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

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Union had a colorable argument that charter school transferred out of the unit certain Health Service Coordinator duties, thereby requiring decision bargaining. (Alum Rock Union Elementary School District (1983) PERB Decision No. 322, pp. 10-12 [an employer must engage in decision bargaining if creation or abolition of classifications involves transfer of traditional bargaining unit duties without fundamental changes].) However, weighing the evidence and drawing reasonable inferences, PERB found that in creating the Registered Nurse (RN) job description, the charter school supplemented and upgraded the former Coordinator duties to such a degree that even the allegedly transferred duties became significantly higher in level than they had been as Coordinator duties. (See County of Santa Clara (2019) PERB Decision No. 2680-M, p. 11 [employer had no decision bargaining obligation when it upgraded its level of protecting the public by replacing a bargaining unit security guard with a non-unit deputy sheriff].) Given there was no dispute that only an RN could provide the desired level of service, nor any dispute that RNs fall outside the bargaining unit, the charter school had an effects bargaining obligation rather than a decision bargaining obligation. (pp. 15-16.)