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

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Court Affirms PERB Decision Finding That Fee Payers Have No Right to Vote in Union Elections

Williams v. PERB (Court of Appeal Case No. B233494) (Issued on 3/13/12) Members of the bargaining unit represented by the California Faculty Association at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) brought an unfair practice charge alleging that their state and federal rights were violated.  Specifically, charging parties—who are fair share fee payers—alleged that CFA improperly denied them the right to vote on an furlough proposal.  Instead, only members of the union were allowed to vote.  PERB dismissed the charge on the ground that PERB has previously held that unions can exclude non-members from voting so long as the union provides nonmembers an…

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PERB Chair Martinez and Member Huguenin Confirmed by Senate

On March 29th, the last day before adjourning for its spring recess, the California Senate voted to confirm the appointments of Anita Martinez and A. Eugene Huguenin as members of the Public Employment Relations Board.  Both individuals were recommended for confirmation by the Rules Committee on 5-0 votes.  Before the entire Senate, the vote was 24-13 along party lines in favor of confirmation. [Note: The original post had the incorrect vote listed.  That has been corrected to show the correct vote, which was 24-13 in favor of confirmation.]

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AB 1655: “Public Employees Bill of Rights” is Amended

I previously wrote about the “Public Employees Bill of Rights Act” (click here) which was introduced by Assemblymember Dickinson on February 14, 2012.  The bill would have changed from three years to one year the statute of limitation to take disciplinary action against a state employee.  While I recognized that there are legitimate public policy arguments in favor of a one-year limitations period for disciplinary action against an employee, my criticism of the bill was that the one-year limitations period ran from when the conduct actually occurred and not when it was reasonably discovered by the employer.  This change therefore would…

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IRANC Luncheon on Factfinding on March 27

  • News

The Industrial Relations Association of Northern California (IRANC), now called the Labor and Employment Relations Association of Northern California (LERANC), will be holding a luncheon on “A Fact-Finding How To” on March 27, 2012.  Speaking on a panel will be Arbitrators Catherine Harris, John LaRocco, and Katherine Thomson. In light of AB 646 (which provides for fact-finding under the MMBA), many people are wondering about the mechanics of fact-finding.  How are fact-finding hearings different from grievance arbitrations?  How do neutral arbitrators deal with party-designated panel members in tripartite fact-finding?  How do you handle expert witnesses?  The panel members will address…

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New Bills Affecting PERB

The deadline to introduce new legislation was February 24, 2012.  As far as I can tell, there were only a handful of new bills introduced that affect the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).  The new bills include: AB 1659 by Assembly Member Butler.  This bill would subject employees of the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles to PERB’s jurisdiction unless those two entities could demonstrate that they have “independent” employee relations commissions.  The bill considers an employee relations commission to be “independent” if it 1) has a separate budget line item, 2) has sole discretion to spend…

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