EMPLOYER INTERFERENCE, RESTRAINT, COERCION, EMPLOYER CONDUCT AFFECTING ORGANIZING, UNION ACCESS; SOLICITATION, AND OTHER UNION RIGHTS – Released Time

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An employer’s failure to provide full compensation for work hours missed due to negotiations would create a chilling effect on the exercise of protected rights. An employer cannot provide full compensation for work hours missed due to negotiations, measured against released employees’ regular compensation, if it withholds hourly leave accruals, pension service credit, credit toward overtime, or other compensation or benefits that derive from total hours. “To construe it otherwise would exact a penalty on employees for engaging in formal negotiations, and create a chilling effect on the exercise of protected employee rights, i.e., participation in organizational activities.” (County of Riverside (2013) PERB Decision No. 2307-M, pp. 32-33.) Moreover, the same principles apply to release time for bargaining as to other forms of release time that MMBA section 3505.3 protects. (pp. 5, fn. 15 & 13-14.)