Headnote for 2915aH, 606.16000 – Failure to Seek Clarification of Proposal - California Public Employment Relations Board

EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; NEGOTIATIONS; INDICIA OF SURFACE OR BAD FAITH BARGAINING; TOTALITY OF CIRCUMSTANCES – Failure to Seek Clarification of Proposal

Single Topic for Decision 2915Ha

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606.00000 – EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; NEGOTIATIONS; INDICIA OF SURFACE OR BAD FAITH BARGAINING; TOTALITY OF CIRCUMSTANCES
606.16000 – Failure to Seek Clarification of Proposal

To conform PERB precedent to the court’s holding in Trustees of the California State University v. Public Employment Relations Bd. (2026) 118 Cal.App.5th 90, that “an employer may satisfy its duty to seek clarification either ‘at the bargaining table’—that is, by formally meeting and conferring—or through an informal exchange between parties” (id. at p. 114), PERB clarified any contrary suggestions found in the following decisions: Rio Hondo Community College District (2013) PERB Decision No. 2313, p. 12; City of Palo Alto (2017) PERB Decision No. 2388a-M, p. 34; and County of Orange (2018) PERB Decision No. 2594-M, p. 27. The Board noted, however, that City of Palo Alto, supra, PERB Decision No. 2388a-M remains correct in holding that an employer cannot comply with its duty merely via comments at a public meeting of the employer’s governing board. (Id. at p. 34.) (p. 27 & fn. 10.)