REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT DETERMINATION/CRITERIA (SEE ALSO WHO IS AN EMPLOYEE?, SECTION 200) – Professional Employees

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MMBA section 3507.3 affords professional employees the right to be represented separately from non-professionals. “‘Professional employees,’ for the purposes of this section, means employees engaged in work requiring specialized knowledge and skills attained through completion of a recognized course of instruction, including, but not limited to, attorneys, physicians, registered nurses, engineers, architects, teachers, and the various types of physical, chemical, and biological scientists.” In a unit dispute involving professional employees, any party has the right to insist on a referral to SMCS, and at that point the employer must pause all proceedings under its local rules to allow SMCS to mediate and/or issue a recommendation. (International Federation of Prof. & Technical Engineers v. City and County of San Francisco (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 1300, 1309-1310 [“the procedure of section 3507.3 is meant to be free of local variation” and “the subject covered by section 3507.3 is not subject to local regulation”].) For MMBA unit disputes that go to the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) in the first instance (because the employer has no applicable local rule), if the dispute involves professional employees and any party asks for a referral to SMCS, then OGC must similarly honor that request and pause proceedings. (pp. 26-28.)