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

Single Topic for Decision 3006M

View all topics for Decision 3006M

Full Decision Text (click on the link to view): Full Text

MMBA section 3505.3 is one of multiple PERB-administered statutes requiring employers to provide reasonable release time to a reasonable number of employees, without loss of compensation or benefits. For those two aspects of release time, the PERB-administered statutes provide an enforceable statutory right in the absence of any collective bargaining agreement, but if an operative agreement specifies the number of employees to be released, then it controls as to that specific term, and the same is true if there is operative agreement as to the number of days or hours of release time afforded. (San Mateo County Community College District (1993) PERB Decision No. 1030, pp. 14-16.) Indeed, this principle is true irrespective of whether the governing statute includes a provision stating that an operative agreement will control as to the number of employees released and/or the amount of release time provided; certain PERB-administered statutes include such a provision while other statutes do not, but PERB interprets these disparate laws in the same manner. (Ibid.) (pp. 7-8.)