REMEDIES FOR UNFAIR PRACTICES; MISCELLANEOUS REMEDIAL PROVISIONS – Attorneys Fees and Costs

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Bargaining costs were proper make-whole relief where a preponderance of the evidence showed that the City’s MMBA violations illegally frustrated negotiations for more than three months, thereby imposing extra bargaining costs on the union. That portion of union negotiator’s salary attributable to time spent on the negotiations during that period may be compensable, as determined in compliance proceedings. Indeed, in City and County of San Francisco (2020) PERB Decision No. 2691-M, when the Board rejected the charging party’s claim that Charter section A8.409-4(k) is facially invalid, the Board noted that if the City did not interpret its Charter lawfully in the future, a charging party could obtain “reimbursement of costs, including but not limited to costs of bargaining, mediation, or interest arbitration.” (Id. at p. 51, fn. 32.) Accordingly, PERB ordered reimbursement of the union’s bargaining costs. (p. 17.)