EMPLOYER REFUSAL TO BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH; UNILATERAL CHANGE (FOR NEGOT OF SPECIFIC SUBJECTS, SEE SEC 1000, SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION) – Duty to Bargain Effects

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Even when an employer has no obligation to bargain over a particular decision, it nonetheless must provide notice and an opportunity to bargain in good faith 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.) A failure or refusal to bargain over the effects of a non-negotiable change is equally as harmful as a failure to bargain over a negotiable change, as it disrupts and destabilizes employer-employee relations by creating an imbalance in the power between management and employee organizations. (County of Santa Clara (2013) PERB Decision No. 2321-M, pp. 22-24.) In other words, the effects bargaining obligation is not an inferior duty. (The Accelerated Schools (2023) PERB Decision No. 2855, p. 11.)