PERB: OPERATION, JURISDICTION, AUTHORITY; APPLICABILITY OF AND CONFLICTS WITH OTHER STATUTES – NLRA/LMRDA Precedent

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PERB and California courts have often looked to private-sector precedent under the National Labor Relations Act and/or California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act as persuasive authority for interpreting parallel provisions in the PERB-administered statutes or doctrines borrowed from private-sector decisional law and codified in our statutes. However, while federal authorities “undoubtedly provide a useful starting point,” they “do not necessarily establish the limits of California public employees’ representational rights” (Social Workers’ Union, Local 535 v. Alameda County Welfare Dept. (1974) 11 Cal.3d 382, 391), and PERB is not constrained by private-sector precedent where our statutes differ from federal law or serve a dissimilar purpose. In each instance, the touchstone for whether private-sector decisional law or other foreign authority is applicable to California public-sector labor relations is whether its underlying reasoning is consistent with the language, policies and purposes of the PERB-administered statutes. (p. 51.)