Today, Governor Brown signed AB 1522 (Gonzalez), the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014.” The law requires, effective July 1, 2015, that employers provide at least three days of paid sick leave per year. So what is the effect of this law on public employers? Here are some key things you need to know:
San Bernardino County Superior Court (2014) PERB Decision No. A416-E (Issued on 8/26/14)
This case provides a good refresher on PERB’s regulations for serving documents. Here, charging party’s exceptions were served by facsimile and regular mail. After respondent informed charging party that the facsimile was illegible, charging party sent a version via email. The issue before the Board was whether respondent was entitled to additional time to file its response. Respondent argued that charging party’s service by facsimile was defective because it was illegible. Further, respondent argued that it never agreed to accept service by email, so the copy it received via email was simply a courtesy copy. Therefore, respondent asserted that the only proper service was by regular mail, which entitled respondent to another five days to file its response. Based on the proof of service, the Board agreed with respondent’s argument that it was only properly served by mail and therefore its response was timely. But here are some tips for practitioners:
Trustees of the California State University (East Bay) (2014) PERB Decision No. 2391-H (Issued on 9/02/14)
The facts in this 50-page decision are voluminous and complex. But here’s what you need to know. An employee filed a grievance alleging that his termination was without “just cause” and other contractual violations. The grievance advanced to arbitration. The employee also filed an unfair practice charge alleging that his termination was in retaliation for protected activity under HEERA. The University moved to defer the unfair practice charge to arbitration. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) granted the deferral motion. With respect to the employee’s termination, the ALJ reasoned that consideration of “just cause” necessarily requires consideration of the employee’s retaliation claims. Therefore, the ALJ ruled, the Collyer standards for deferral were satisfied.
On August 14, AB 2126 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and now awaits a floor vote. AB 2126 is the last remaining bill in this Legislative session that would substantially affect PERB. AB 2126 would make mediation mandatory and expand (or "clarify" in the words of the bill) the scope of factfinding under the MMBA. The bill has to pass the Senate by August 31. If it does, the Governor has until September 30 to sign or veto it.
Overview: PERB issues 87 decisions
PERB operates on a fiscal year running from July 1 to June 30. So fiscal year 2013-2014 is over. PERB’s annual report for 2013-2014 is not due until October 1, 2014. However, I have some preliminary numbers based on my tracking of PERB decisions. This year was the first year PERB began issuing non-precedential decisions. In order to make an apples-to-apples comparison with past years, where possible my numbers include both precedential and non-precedential decisions. So with that assumption, my records indicate that PERB issued a total of 87 decisions this past year. The prior year PERB issued 51 decisions. The year before that it was 100 decisions. I attribute the increase this year to the fact the two new board members appointed last year were able to get up to full speed this year. Once PERB issues its annual report I’ll have a more thorough analysis. Until then, here are the preliminary numbers: