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

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To establish a prima facie case that a respondent employer violated its bargaining duty via a unilateral change, a charging party union that exclusively represents a bargaining unit must prove that (1) the employer changed or deviated from the status quo; (2) the change or deviation concerned a matter within the scope of representation; (3) the change or deviation had a generalized effect or continuing impact on represented employees’ terms or conditions of employment; and (4) the employer reached its decision without first providing adequate advance notice of the proposed change to the union and bargaining in good faith over the decision, at the union’s request, until the parties reached an agreement or a lawful impasse. (Regents of the University of California (2023) PERB Decision No. 2884-H, p. 9.) Absent a valid defense, an employer’s unilateral change affecting negotiable matters is a per se refusal to meet and confer.