REMEDIES FOR UNFAIR PRACTICES; INJUNCTIVE RELIEF – Standards for Obtaining Injunctive Relief

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In assessing whether certain positions satisfy the County Sanitation standard, PERB considers the nature of the services the alleged essential employees perform and whether the employer has clearly demonstrated that disruption of such services for the length of the strike would imminently and substantially threaten public health or safety. (Sacramento County Superior Court (United Public Employees Local 1) (2015) PERB Order No. IR-59-C, pp. 2-3, citing County Sanitation District No. 2 v. Los Angeles County Employees Assn. (1985) 38 Cal.3d 564.) If the employer has made this showing, PERB next considers whether the employer has clearly demonstrated that it requires an injunction to protect the public even after fully accounting for all possible service reductions and coverage options, including: (1) planning to use supervisors, managers, non-bargaining unit personnel, and bargaining unit employees that the union has exempted from the strike or who have affirmatively indicated that they plan to work during the strike; (2) contacting all companies or other entities potentially able to provide replacement employees or services, and contracting with such entities if they indicate they can provide replacements; and (3) documenting the extent to which each of the aforementioned options may or may not be feasible, including the available companies or agencies offering temporary replacements, their responses when contacted, and any resulting contracts. (Id. at pp. 3-4; San Francisco County Superior Court & Region 2 Court Interpreter Employment Relations Committee (2018) PERB Decision No. 2609-I, p. 13.) Finally, for those employees that PERB preliminarily determines to be essential to public health or safety based on the above-described analysis, PERB considers what arrangements will protect the public while infringing as little as possible on employees’ protected rights.