SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION – Ground Rules for Negotiations

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Ground rules are a mandatory subject of bargaining, meaning neither party can refuse to bargain over them. (County of Orange (2018) PERB Decision No. 2594-M, pp. 12-14.) However, bargaining over ground rules is analytically distinct from bargaining over substantive terms, meaning that neither party can lawfully refuse to bargain over substantive terms merely because of a dispute over ground rules, and as a result PERB precedent establishes certain default ground rules that apply absent an agreement to the contrary. (Ibid.) (p. 19, fn. 7.) (pp. 19-20.)