CASE PROCESSING PROCEDURES; EVIDENCE – Privileged Communications

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To the extent the requested records include notes covering internal union meetings or caucuses in which no District representatives were present, they are subject to a qualified protection. In Colton Joint Unified School District/Rialto Unified School District/San Bernardino City Unified School District (1981) PERB Order No. Ad-113 (Colton), PERB found that a bargaining party generally need not disclose its internal strategy discussions regarding negotiations or grievance handling. (Id. at p. 6, citing Berbiglia, Inc. (1977) 233 NLRB 1476, 1495; see also County of Tulare (2020) PERB Decision No. 2697-M, pp. 14-15, fn. 9; Cal Fire Local 2881 (Tobin) (2018) PERB Decision No. 2580-S, p. 4.) Pursuant to this qualified protection, we balance the negotiating party’s interest in maintaining confidentiality versus the competing interests in disclosure, if any. (Colton, supra, PERB Order No. Ad-113, p. 8.) CAUSE’s internal notes from bargaining sessions fall under this protection, particularly as the District’s tenuous arguments for relevance weigh against disclosure.