At its regular meeting on August 10, 2017, the Board instructed each of its divisions to prepare recommendations for the implementation of AB 119, the Public Employee Communication Chapter (PECC). The Board has now scheduled a meeting on August 31, 2017 to hear and act upon those recommendations. Based on the staff report to the Board, here are the recommendations from each division:
I recently wrote about SB 548 here. SB 548 codifies PERB Regulation 32147 on expediting cases. However, as any PERB practitioner can tell you, that regulation is relatively toothless as it only requires the Board to give “priority” to an expedited case “in the manner determined to be appropriate by … the Board itself, the General Counsel, or the Chief Administrative.”
I previously wrote about AB 530 and SB 548 here. In summary, AB 530 would have made peace officers subject to PERB’s jurisdiction for the first time. In contrast, SB 548 would have removed firefighters from PERB’s jurisdiction. However, both bills have since been amended. Here’s an update:
Current state law requires an employer to provide the full personnel records of any employee or former employee who applies for a peace officer position. (Gov. Code §1031.1.) AB 1339, which was signed by the Governor on July 21, 2017, extends this obligation to any applicant for any position in a law enforcement agency. The intent behind this bill is that current law leaves a gap for positions such as a police dispatcher or evidence clerk. Although these are not peace officer positions, these are still sensitive positions in a law enforcement agency. Under AB 1339, if an employee or…
City of Watsonville (2017) PERB Decision No. A445-M (Issued on 6/27/17)
The City of Watsonville (City) and its unions were in joint negotiations for successor memoranda of understanding (MOUs). The unions declared impasse on June 1, 2015. On August 5, 2015, the unions filed a request for factfinding but withdrew the request on August 12, 2015. The Board noted that if the unions had not withdrawn their request, it likely would have been denied as untimely by PERB.