Category: PERB News

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A tale of two bills: AB 530 v SB 548

AB 530 was introduced by Assembly Member Cooper on February 13, 2017. This bill would eliminate the peace officer carve-out to PERB’s jurisdiction.  Currently, while peace officers are subject to the MMBA they are not subject to PERB’s jurisdiction. Instead, unfair practice charges from peace officers are handled in superior court. Peace officers have been exempt from PERB's jurisdiction since PERB first took over the MMBA in 2001. Comments: AB 530 stands in sharp contrast to SB 548, which would give firefighters a mechanism to avoid PERB in favor of going to superior court. I wrote about SB 548 here.…

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Court Overturns PERB’s Decision on San Diego Pension Reform

City of San Diego v. PERB (Court of Appeal Case No. D069630) (Issued on 4/11/17) I’ve been waiting for this decision for a long time.  I first wrote about this case in 2012.  (Click here for my blog post)  For those of you unfamiliar with the facts, here is an abbreviated version. Everyone knows the current system of public sector pensions is unsustainable.  In 2012, the citizens of the City of San Diego (City) addressed this issue through the “Citizens Pension Reform Initiative” (CPRI).  Among the biggest supporters of the CPRI was the Mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders. Although…

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Appellate Court Overturns PERB

City of Escondido v PERB (2017) Court of Appeal Case No. D070462 (Issued on 3/8/17) (Unpublished) The courts of appeal give a lot of deference to PERB. As such the majority of PERB cases that are challenged are affirmed. This is one of those rare cases where PERB gets overturned. This case involved a decision by the City of Escondido to lay off several full-time code enforcement officers, and the City’s subsequent decision to assign some of the work previously performed by the full-time employees to part-time employees who are not in the bargaining unit. In PERB’s view, both decisions…

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Mark Gregersen Designated Chair of PERB

The Governor has designated PERB Member Mark Gregersen as the Chair of PERB. The prior Chair, Anita Martinez, retired in July of 2016.  Since that time the position of Chair has been vacant. The Board remains at three members: Chair Gregersen, Member Priscilla Winslow and Member Eric Banks. Two Board member positions are vacant.

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SB 550: Allows Unions To Recover Attorneys’ Fees

SB 550 was introduced by Senator Pan (D-Sacramento) on February 16, 2017. SB 550 amends EERA section 3543.8 to add the following: (b) If the employee organization prevails in an action in proving the employer failed to provide wages or benefits required by state law, the employer shall pay the employee organization’s reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses if written notice of intent to seek fees was provided to the employer at least 30 days before the action was instituted Comments: I’m opposed to this bill as it creates an uneven playing field by only allowing the union to recover its…

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