EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; UNILATERAL CHANGE (FOR NEGOT OF SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, SEE SEC 1000, SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION) – Change in Past Practice

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The Board declined to determine whether the parties’ past practice was sufficient to meet the independent standard for a unilateral change, because the inquiry is fundamentally different when the parties’ past practices are considered to help interpret the meaning of contract language. (Antelope Valley Community College District (2018) PERB Decision No. 2618, p. 21.) In such circumstances, “the past practice is but one tool for interpreting the contract, and therefore need not be as definitive as when it is defining the status quo in the absence of a contract term.” (Id. at p. 22.) The Board found the District’s conduct—cashing out vacation balances over the maximum carryover amount twice in the year following ratification—indicative of the meaning of the CBA.