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

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SB 371: Prohibits Unionized Employees From Representing Employers Against Union

SB 371 was introduced by Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) on February 14, 2017. SB 371 bill would add the following new section to the MMBA: 3505.9. An individual who will be covered by a memorandum of understanding between a public agency and a recognized public employee organization shall not represent the public agency in negotiations with the recognized employee organization. Since this bill was just introduced, a bill analysis is not yet available. Comments: Because a bill analysis is not yet available, it’s unclear what “problem” this bill is trying to solve.  It’s certainly true that under the MMBA, virtually…

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The New Friedrichs case: Janus v AFSCME

Mark Janus et al v. AFSCME et al (7th Cir.) (Docket No. 16-3638) Last year everyone’s attention was focused on the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (Friedrichs) case. At issue was the Supreme Court’s 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education which sanctioned the collection of mandatory agency fees in the public sector. After oral argument in January 2016, almost all commentators agreed that the Supreme Court was likely to overturn its precedent in Abood. That all changed with the passing of Justice Scalia which resulted in the Supreme Court affirming the Friedrich’s…

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PERB: Annual Window Periods OK

City of Madera (2016) PERB Dec. No. 2506-M (Issued on 12/13/16) This case involved a decertification petition filed after the expiration of a contract. Under the City’s local rules, once a contract expires a decertification petition may only be filed during the month of March. The contract at issue expired on June 30th and the union seeking to decertify the incumbent filed its decertification petition in November.  Pursuant to the City’s local rules, the petition was rejected. The union then filed an unfair practice charge asserting that the City’s local rule was unreasonable. The Board affirmed that when a local rule is challenged…

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PERB Practice: Can I File a Reply Brief?

City of San Luis Obispo (2016) PERB Dec. No. A444-M (Issued on 12/13/16) If you are familiar with PERB's regulations, you probably know that the regulations do not provide for the filing of a reply brief in matters before PERB. The regulations simply provide for the filing of moving papers and then a response. But since the regulations do not expressly prohibit the filing of a reply brief, I often get asked whether reply briefs are allowed. In this case, PERB provides some more guidance on this issue. Because PERB Regulations neither expressly permit nor preclude the submission of reply briefs,…

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Strike Injunctions: How Often Does PERB Issue Them?

[Note: The original post has been corrected to include two additional strike injunctions issued in fiscal year 2015-2016. The chart also makes it clear the strike injunction was issued during the fiscal year, and not necessarily the calendar year.] For those of you attending the annual CalPELRA conference, I will be speaking on Friday, November 4th, on the subject of strikes. Among the issues I will be talking about is the injunctive relief process before PERB and how it works. In preparation for my talk, I examined how many times PERB has issued injunctions against strike activity. To do this, I reviewed…

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