PERB Issues First Non-Precedential Decision

Coast Community College District Teachers Association (Hays) (2013) PERB Decision No. 2320-E (Non-Precedential) (Issued on 7/25/13)

This decision was issued a while ago but I wanted to highlight it as PERB’s first “non-precedential” decision. Starting July 1, 2013, PERB has the authority to designate certain appeals as precedential or non-precedential. (See PERB Reg. 32320.) When PERB first issued the Coast Community College decision, it included the following footnote:

PERB Regulation 32320, subdivision (d), provides in pertinent part: “Effective July 1, 2013, a majority of the Board members issuing a decision or order pursuant to an appeal filed under Section 32635 [Board review of dismissals] shall determine whether the decision or order, or any part thereof, shall be designated as precedential.” Having met none of the criteria enumerated in the regulation, the decision herein has not been designated as precedential. (PERB regulations are codified at California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 31001 et seq.)

As a comparison, on July 25, 2013, the Board issued its decision in County of Santa Clara (2013) PERB Decision No. 2321-M, which modified the rules for effects bargaining. (Click here for post.) That case was also an appeal from a dismissal and presumably intended to be precedential, yet the decision itself was silent as to its precedential status. So I’ve been waiting for PERB to provide some guidance on how to tell if a decision is precedential or not.

Recently, PERB has provided the following notice on its website:

… Decisions designated as precedential by the Board itself pursuant to this regulation will be posted to the Decision Bank on PERB’s website in the same manner as decisions issued prior to July 1, 2013. Decisions that are not designated as precedential have binding effect on the parties to the case but have no value as binding authority in future cases. Non-precedential decisions will not be posted to the Decision Bank but can be made available to members of the public upon a written request.

If you go to the “Recent Decisions” link on the PERB website, you will see that the Coast Community College decision, along with another decision, is listed but that no decision is available to read. So that answers my question. PERB will continue to publicize the issuance of non-precedential decisions but they will not be available to read on the website.