EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH (FOR SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, SEE SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION, SEC 1000) – Decision vs Effects Bargaining

Single Topic for Decision 2803E

View all topics for Decision 2803E

Full Decision Text (click on the link to view): Full Text

Even when an employer has no obligation to bargain over a particular decision, it nonetheless must provide notice and an opportunity to meet and confer over any reasonably foreseeable effects the decision may have on matters within the scope of representation. (County of Santa Clara (2019) PERB Decision No. 2680-M, pp. 11-12.) The employer violates this duty if it fails to provide adequate advance notice, and in such circumstances the union need not request to bargain effects as a prerequisite to filing an unfair practice charge. (County of Santa Clara (2013) PERB Decision No. 2321-M, pp. 30-32.) However, where an employer does provide adequate notice, the union must request to bargain any reasonably foreseeable effects on negotiable matters. (Id. at p. 30.) The union’s request to bargain need not be formalistic or burdensome, nor anticipate every imaginable effect a proposed change may have, but must only identify negotiable areas of impact, thereby placing the employer on notice that it believes the employer’s proposed decision would affect one or more negotiable topics. (County of Sacramento (2013) PERB Decision No. 2315-M, p. 9; Rio Hondo Community College District (2013) PERB Decision No. 2313, p. 13.)