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

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NLRB: Employees Have Right to Use Employer’s Email System

Purple Communications, Inc. v. Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO (NLRB Decision) (Issued on 12/11/14) Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its long-awaited decision in Purple Communications, Inc. v. Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.  In a 3-2 decision, the NLRB overturned its prior precedent in order to hold that: [E]mployee use of email for statutorily protected communications on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems. The NLRB majority characterized this decision as “carefully limited.”  According to the majority, this decision only applies to employees who have…

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PERB Issues 2013-14 Annual Report

PERB has released its annual report for fiscal year 2013-2014. (The report is available here.)  Here is my annual summary of the statistics in the report: Unfair Practice Charges 949 unfair practice charges (UPCs) were filed in fiscal year 2013-14.  However, 173 of these charges were filed by the same individual on behalf of himself and/or other employees over agency fee issues. So if we subtract the 172 ‘duplicate’ UPCs, that still leaves 777 UPCs filed in fiscal year 2013-14.  That’s a 14.6% increase from fiscal year 2012-13, in which 678 UPCs were filed and reverses a two-year trend of…

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PERB Schedules Oral Argument in San Bernardino County case

San Bernardino County Public Attorneys Association v. County of San Bernardino (PERB Case Nos. LA-CE-431-M; LA-CE-554-M) PERB has scheduled oral argument in this consolidated case for October 30, 2014, at 2:00 p.m. at the PERB offices in Sacramento.  This will be only the second oral argument heard by the current Board and only the third time oral argument has been held since 2002.  The last time PERB held oral argument was in City of Lompoc v. Lompoc Police Officers Association; Lompoc Police Officers Association v. City of Lompoc (PERB Case Nos. LA-CO-100-M; LA-CE-555-M; LA-CE-564-M; LA-CE-585-M) in June of 2013. As…

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Board: Firefighters Have Protected Right to Wear Union Logo on Uniform

County of Sacramento (2014) PERB Decision No. 2393-M (Issued on 10/16/14)

This case involved the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Division bargaining unit of the County of Sacramento.  The firefighters in this bargaining unit are represented by Local 522 of the International Association of Firefighters (Local 522).  Local 522 provides its members a “Class B” t-shirt and hat bearing the union logo. In 2011, the County issued a directive stating that t-shirts and hats bearing the union logo were not approved to be worn while on duty.  The decision referred to this rule as the “No Union Logo” policy. The union promptly filed an unfair practice charge over this policy alleging that it interfered with protected rights.

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Governor Vetoes AB 2126

Governor Brown has vetoed AB 2126, which would have made mediation mandatory and expanded the scope of factfinding under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA).  Here is the Governor's veto message: To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 2126 without my signature. This bill would amend the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act to provide that mediation in the collective bargaining process may be invoked by one party, rather than requiring both parties to mutually declare impasse and request mediation as required under current law. The bill would also specify that fact finding is not limited to disputes over a new…

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