Category: PERB News

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Gov. Newsom Makes First Appointment to PERB

In one of his first acts, Governor Newsom has appointed Lou Paulson to the Board of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).  Mr. Paulson is the immediate past President of the California Professional Fire Fighters association, the officially chartered state council for the International Association of Fire Fighters. He has served on numerous state and national boards and committees, including the Executive Board of the California Federation of Labor and the Advisory Board for the University of California Labor Center. Mr. Paulson joins the three other members of the Board at PERB: Eric Banks, Arthur Krantz, and Erich Shiners. A fifth board…

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A December to Forget for Employers

If you are a “PERB watcher” then you know that PERB issued a lot of decisions in December.  24 to be exact. PERB only issued 61 decisions in all of 2017-18, so 24 decisions in a month is undoubtedly a record. Many of the 24 decisions involve significant new legal pronouncements by PERB which I will continue to blog about in the coming weeks. But the one thing that immediately jumped out at me about December was that it was not a good month for employers. Of the 24 decisions, 7 were reversals of proposed ALJ decisions. All 7 reversals…

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PERB Issues 2017-18 Annual Report

Perb Annual Report Cover 2017 18 PERB has released its annual report for fiscal year 2017-2018. (The report is available here.)  Here is my annual summary of the statistics in the report:

Unfair Practice Charges
690 unfair practice charges (UPCs) were filed in fiscal year 2017-18. In fiscal year 2016-2017, there were 672 UPCs. This means fiscal year 2017-18 saw a 2.7% increase in UPCs compared to the prior year. The change in the number of UPCs varied by statute. The MMBA saw a 13.4% increase (from 261 to 296). The Dills Act saw a 46.7% decrease (from 60 to 32). EERA saw a 15.4% increase (from 240 to 277).  HEERA saw a 9.9% decrease (from 81 to 73). The Trial Court Act saw a decrease from 15 UPCs the prior year to 9, while the Interpreter Act remained the same at 1 UPC. Finally, there were 2 UPCs filed under the new Public Employee Communications Chapter.

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PERB Advisory Committee Meeting on October 11, 2018

The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has announced a meeting of its Advisory Committee for October 11, 2018 at 11 am.  The location will be at the PERB headquarters in Sacramento at 1031 18th Street, First Floor, Room 103, Sacramento, CA. According to the meeting agenda the Advisory Committee meeting is "an opportunity for the Board, its staff, its constituents and the public to openly discuss the topics outlined below relating to PERB’s mission in the administration of the eight collective bargaining statutes over which PERB has jurisdiction."  There is no formal “membership” for the Advisory Committee; all members of the public are welcome. The scheduled…

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Governor Vetoes AB 2305, 2886 and 3034

On Friday, September 28, the Governor vetoed AB 2305, 2886, and 3034.  These bills would have expanded PERB's jurisdiction by adding, respectively: peace officer unions; the Orange County Transportation Authority and the San Joaquin Regional Transit District; and the supervisory units of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District. Here is the Governor's veto message: These bills expand the Public Employment Relations Board's jurisdiction to cover labor disputes involving several local public agencies. Over the years, the Legislature has expanded the Board's jurisdiction, but the necessary funding for the increased workload has not kept pace. This has resulted in significant backlogs at the Board…

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