All notes for Subtopic 300.11000 – Distribution of Literature
| Decision | Description | PERC Vol. | PERC Index | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2611M | County of Orange 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Employee and non-employee representatives of employee organizations may access employee work areas, subject to reasonable employer regulation. Any such regulation must be both necessary to the employer’s efficient operations or safety of employees or others, and narrowly drawn to avoid overbroad, unnecessary interference with the exercise of statutory rights. However, an employer’s otherwise lawful access restrictions may nevertheless interfere with protected rights when applied discriminatorily against unions or protected activity. (p. 3.) more or view all topics or full text. | 43 | 101 | 12/19/18 |
| 2517C | Fresno County Superior Court * * * VACATED IN PART by Fresno County Superior Court (2019) PERB Decision No. 2517a-C 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature * * * VACATED IN PART by Fresno County Superior Court (2019) PERB Decision No. 2517a-C, where the Board issued a modified decision after the Court of Appeal partially vacated a portion of the original decision. Specifically, the Court of Appeal: (1) found that the court-employer’s need to appear neutral to the public was a special circumstance sufficient to support a ban on wearing insignia in the courthouse; (2) set aside PERB’s decision regarding display of union images and writings; (3) upheld PERB’s unalleged violations doctrine; and (4) upheld PERB’s decision finding a violation in the court’s prohibition against distributing union literature in work areas visible to the public. * * *Under the PERB-administered statutes, the organizational right of access to the workplace is presumed and the burden is on the employer to establish that its regulation is reasonable and necessary under the circumstances to prevent disruption of operations. Solicitation and the distribution of literature as well as other nondisruptive concerted activities in mixed-use areas are statutorily protected. (p. 29.) Because PERB found no persuasive showing of special circumstances to justify the Court’s personnel rule banning distribution and solicitation in working areas during non-duty time, and the categorical ban on distributing literature in mixed-use areas was reasonably susceptible to an interpretation that unlawfully restricts protected activity during employees’ non-duty time, it was overly broad and in violation of the Trial Court Act. (p. 29.) more or view all topics or full text. | 41 | 140 | 02/27/17 |
| 2300H | Regents of the University of California 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Even though leafleting is a constitutionally protected activity, subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions, the question of unilateral change in the employer’s leafleting policy can be decided without resort to enforcing constitutional rights. As noted earlier, if the parties believe that our decision fails to resolve underlying constitutional issues, or that our decision intrudes on constitutional rights, they will be free to seek redress in the courts, having exhausted their administrative remedies. This Board has consistently described leafleting to advertise a labor dispute as presumptively protected activity. The Board held that the distribution of leaflets by community college faculty members to members of the public attending the college’s graduation ceremonies was protected conduct under EERA. As in this case, the leaflets criticized the employer’s policies in the context of a labor dispute and were distributed on the college’s property. more or view all topics or full text. | 37 | 141 | 12/20/12 |
| 1479S | California State Employees Association (Hard, et al.) 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Charging Party did not provide an adequate showing that participation in rallies, distributing literature, wearing union buttons or t-shirts impacted the employer-employee relationship sufficiently to support a finding of protected activity. more or view all topics or full text. | 26 | 33065 | 05/02/02 |
| 1365S | State of California (Employment Development Department) * * * SUPERSEDED by State of California (Employment Development Department) (2001) PERB Decision No. 1365a-S 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature * * * SUPERSEDED IN PART by State of California (Employment Development Department) (2001) PERB Decision No. 1365a-S, where the Board held with respect to a memorandum issued in response to unprotected activity that an employer must restrict any future prohibition to only unprotected activities and cannot use ambiguous language that may also include protected activity. * * *Thirty employees conducted the unity break during their morning break in the Long Beach EDD office, they did so in a work area in which approximately 30 other employees were at their work stations on duty. Therefore, the unity break activity did not occur during nonwork time in a nonwork area and EDD may restrict the activity in order to maintain order and production; pp. 10-11. Activities such as the unity break at issue in this case may be restricted by the employer if they do not occur during nonwork time in nonwork areas. In these circumstances, the employer must be given leeway to restrict those activities in order to maintain order, production or discipline. This would include situations in which the employees conducting the activities are on nonwork time, but the activities occur in a work area during a period in which other employees are working; p. 10. more or view all topics or full text. | 24 | 31026 | 12/17/99 |
| 2485E | Petaluma City Elementary School District/Joint Union High School District 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Similar to union access and released time for employee representatives, PERB regards employee rights to communicate, solicit and distribute information at work as encompassing both statutory rights and negotiable matters. A categorical prohibition against distributing literature or other means of communication states a prima facie case of employer interference with fundamental rights of employee organizations to represent and communicate with employees and of employees to self-organize and communicate with one another in the workplace. more or view all topics or full text. | 41 | 23 | 06/30/16 |
| 0319H | Regents of the University of California (California State Employees Association, Chapter 41) 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Employee's efforts to have bulletin board mounted and to post organizational materials were in furtherance of union's goals of communicating with and representing employees. more or view all topics or full text. | 7 | 14177 | 06/10/83 |
| 0224E | Mt. San Antonio Community College District 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature Teachers were improperly disciplined for distributing leaflets (at graduation) which were critical of District's fiscal management. Content of leaflets and activity of teachers did not lose protected status since their efforts related to legitimate labor dispute. Fact that the issues are not negotiable subjects not determinative since they are matters on which the union has consultation rights. Thus, teachers' actions fell within right to participate in activities of employee organization. Leaflet not opprobious, malicious or defamatory in context; pp. 5-7. more or view all topics or full text. | 6 | 13163 | 06/30/82 |
| 0188E | John Swett Unified School District 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature District agent's chastisement of employee who conducted a poll among employees which caused dissension among faculty improper interference with right of employee to engage in protected activity. Certain statements of District agent went beyond bounds of operational necessity and had a coercive meaning viewed in overall context rather than being a legitimate problem-solving conversation; pp. 6-7. more or view all topics or full text. | 6 | 13018 | 12/21/81 |
| 0147E | Santa Monica Unified School District 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature A union officer's letter to unit members asking that they not encourage participation in a disputed environmental education project is protected conduct. more or view all topics or full text. | 5 | 12003 | 12/10/80 |
| 0047E | Pittsburg Unified School District 300.11000: UNFAIR PRACTICE ISSUES; PROTECTED ACTIVITIES; Distribution of Literature No discrimination where employees suspended for breaking District rules unrelated to protected activity. Employees properly disciplined for offensive union leaflet where motivation was unrelated to protected activity itself but focused on nature of the leaflet. more or view all topics or full text. | 2 | 2051 | 02/10/78 |