REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT DETERMINATION/CRITERIA (SEE ALSO WHO IS AN EMPLOYEE?, SECTION 200) – Professional Employees

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MMBA section 3507.3 does not afford every group of professionals a right to its own unit. Accordingly, an “all professionals” grouping fully protects the right of professionals to be represented separately from non-professionals set forth in section 3507.3. (County of Orange (2016) PERB Decision No. 2478-M, pp.13-14.) However, traditional community of interest criteria can merit narrower professional units, depending on the circumstances. (See, e.g., Alameda County Assistant Public Defenders Assn. v. County of Alameda (1973) 33 Cal.App.3d 825, 832 [appellate court reviewing initial division of employees into units ordered the employer to place the public defenders in their own unit, finding that they were “Sui generis” and had little in common with other non-healthcare professionals].) In California counties where public defenders are part of a broad professional unit, they may seek to sever themselves into a stand-alone public defenders’ unit, but they bear the burden of showing that the larger, established unit cannot adequately address their interests. (pp. 28-29.)