Category: News

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Why Aren’t PERB Decisions Immediately Available on its Website?

Many of you have noticed that PERB decisions are no longer immediately available on its website. The delay is a side-effect of AB 434, a law enacted in 2017 that requires state agencies to certify that their websites are compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. WCAG 2.0 standards require that documents on websites be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities such as visual impairments. Prior to AB 434, many of the documents available on state websites did not meet this standard. Indeed, the Sacramento Bee reported that many state agencies had to remove documents from their websites…

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Supreme Court: “California Rule” Stands, But Weakened

Today, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association v Alameda County Employees' Retirement Association et. al. The key issue in this case was whether some of the changes mandated by the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of2013 (PEPRA) unlawfully infringed upon vested pension rights. Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, the media characterized this case as one of "pension spiking." Given that tagline, it's not surprising that the Court found that the Legislature's efforts to combat pension spiking were lawful and rejected the plaintiffs' arguments. However, what everyone wanted to know was whether the Court would…

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PERB Schedules Oral Argument on Interpretation of Gov Code 3550

AFSCME Local 3299 v Regents (Case No. SF-CE-1188-H); UPTE Local 9119 v Regents (SF-CE-1189-H); Teamsters Local 2010 v Regents (SF-CE-1192-H); Teamsters Local 2010 v Regents (SF-PE-5-H) PERB has scheduled a virtual combined oral argument in these cases for July 23, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. Next week PERB will be releasing a link where the public may view the oral argument via a live stream on PERB's YouTube channel. The Board rarely grants oral argument in cases. This will be the first oral argument held by the Board under Governor Newsom. The last time PERB held oral argument was in 2014…

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AB 2850: Adds BART to PERB’s Jurisdiction

AB 2850 was introduced on February 21, 2020, by Assembly Member Low. Like most transit districts, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) is governed by the Public Utilities Code (PUC) for its operations, including its labor relations. Initially, this bill would have placed BART under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, therefore making it subject to PERB’s jurisdiction. However, the bill was recently amended to keep BART under the PUC’s labor relations statutes but to place it under PERB’s jurisdiction for enforcement. If enacted, this bill would create yet another unique statutory scheme under PERB’s jurisdiction. In 2018, Governor Brown…

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SB 1173: $50,000 Penalty for Violation of PECC

SB 1173 was introduced on February 20, 2020, by Senator Durazo. Currently, the Public Employee Communication Chapter (PECC) (Gov. Code, §3555 et. seq.) requires public employers to regularly provide a union with the “name, job title, department, work location, work, home, and personal cellular telephone numbers, personal email addresses on file with the employer, and home address …” of the union’s bargaining unit members. SB 1173 would give an employer 10 days to cure an allegation that it provided an inaccurate or incomplete list of employees to the union. If the employer does not timely cure a violation, the union…

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