Court and Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) decisions, commentary on California public sector labor relations

Cal. Faculty Assn. v. PERB (3rd District Court of Appeal, Case No. C054725) (Issued on 2/28/08)The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the California Faculty Association (CFA) and the California State University (CSU) contains a provision on parking fees. Upon payment of the negotiated parking fee, members of the unit—primarily faculty members—were historically allowed to park in any campus parking lot. In 2001 and 2002, CSU built additional parking structures at its Northridge and Sacramento campuses. Because CSU self-funds parking, it asked all its employee unions to agree to higher parking fees to fund construction of the new parking structures. While…

County of Sacramento (PERB Dec. No. 1943-M) (Issued on 2/14/08)In January 2006, the County of Sacramento notified two of its unions that it was considering changing its Retiree Health Insurance Program (RHIP). The RHIP is a non-vested County benefit that provides a monetary allowance to retirees to offset the cost of health insurance. The County’s proposal called for limiting the number of current employees who would be eligible for the RHIP upon retirement. The unions demanded to bargain over the County’s decision to change the RHIP’s eligibility requirements. The County refused on the ground that the decision to change the…

Long Beach Community College District (PERB Dec. No. 1941E) (Issued on 1/30/08)The MOU between the Long Beach Community College District (District) and its Police Officers Association contained a management rights clause which reserved to management the right to “contract out work.” Relying on this clause, the District made the decision to contract out all of its police services to the City of Long Beach without negotiating with the union. The union asserted in its unfair practice charge that the waiver was intended only to apply to contracting out for armed services during special campus events, and was not intended as…

Fresno County Superior Court (PERB Dec. No. 1942C) (Issued on 01/31/08)This is one of the first cases under the Trial Court Act to go before an administrative law judge and the Board. The issue was whether the Fresno Superior Court’s decision to require all court reporters to provide “realtime” court reporting services was within the “scope of representation.” Relying on the unique language of the TCA, the Board held that it was not.The TCA, similar to all the other acts administered by PERB, provides that the “scope of representation shall include all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations,…

PERB's Annual Report for 2006-2007 is now available on its wesbite.In fiscal year 2006-07, 823 unfair practices charges were filed with PERB, compared to 1012 the year before; a 19% decrease. Interestingly, that decrease was due mostly to the number of unfair practice charges filed under HEERA, which went from 328 in 2005-06, to 92 in 2006-07.Despite the drastic decrease in the number of unfair practice charges, higher education still remains the most contentious of the public sector arenas based on the number of unfair practice charges compared to the number of employees covered under each Act.Consider, according to PERB's…