REPRESENTATION ISSUES; JUDICIAL REVIEW, REPRESENTATION, DECISIONS – Procedural Issues

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1311.00000 – REPRESENTATION ISSUES; JUDICIAL REVIEW, REPRESENTATION, DECISIONS
1311.02000 – Procedural Issues

PERB Regulation 61420 provides “[w]henever a severance petition is filed with the Board, the Board shall investigate and, where appropriate, conduct a hearing and/or a representation election, or take such other action as deemed necessary to decide the questions raised by the petition.” PERB recently noted that under a comparable regulation implementing the Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA), “[t]here is ‘no guarantee or entitlement to an evidentiary hearing.’” (Alliance Morgan McKinzie High School, et al. (2022) PERB Order No. Ad-491, p. 13, quoting Children of Promise Preparatory Academy (2013) PERB Order No. Ad-402, p. 16.) Rather, after completing an investigation, the Board agent may either “determine that sufficient evidence has been submitted to raise a material issue that necessitates an evidentiary hearing,” or “that no material issue of fact exists and thus that a hearing is unnecessary.” (Id. at p. 17.) The Board applies an abuse of discretion standard in reviewing a Board agent’s determination whether to conduct a hearing in a representation matter. (Robert L. Mueller Charter School (2003) PERB Order No. Ad 320, p. 11.) Here, the Board found that there were no disputed material facts and thus OGC did not abuse its discretion by declining to hold a hearing. (pp. 22-24.)