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

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FAQs on AB 119 – California’s New Employee Orientation Law (Part II)

This is Part II of my FAQ’s related to AB 119.  (Click here for Part 1.) The basics of the bill have been covered in many other places so my focus here is on some of the more technical aspects of the bill.

How does the bargaining process work? AB 119 provides that an employer shall provide the exclusive representative access to the employer’s new employee orientations. The details of this access are left to negotiations between the parties. Either party may request to begin negotiations. (GC 3557(a).) If negotiations are unsuccessful, the bill provides that any remaining disputes are to be resolved through compulsory interest arbitration. (Ibid.)

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FAQs on AB 119 – California’s New Employee Orientation Law (Part I)

By now you’ve heard of the passage of AB 119 which mandates union access to new employee orientations. There is a lot of information out there about this bill, but I know that there are still many questions. I’m going to try to cover some of the most frequently asked questions in a series of posts.

When do I need to begin complying with AB 119?  Now. Most bills take effect on January 1st. However, AB 119 is part of the “Budget Bill” (Cal. Const. , Art IV, §12) which means it takes effect immediately.

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PERB: Unlawful to “Blacklist” Former Employees

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (2017) PERB Decision No. 2530-E (Issued on 6/19/17)

Eric Moberg was a former employee of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD). Moberg alleged that the MPUSD “blacklisted” him because of his protected activities which caused him to lose jobs with subsequent school districts. The key issue addressed by the Board was whether Moberg had standing, as a former employee, to bring an unfair practice charge against the MPUSD for retaliation. The Board held that he did.

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SB 104: Mandates Union Access to Employee Orientations

Last year, in response to Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, public sector unions introduced AB 2835 which would have mandated that public employers provide an “orientation” to new employees during which time the union would be entitled to make a 30-minute presentation.  That bill failed to make it out of the Senate. This year, AB 52 was introduced which would have similarly required that public employers provide new employees an orientation during which time the union would be entitled to participate.  That bill never made it out of the Assembly. However, it appears that public sector union advocates may have…

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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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