Decision 1133E – Los Rios College Federation of Teachers (Deglow)
S-CO-314
Decision Date: January 19, 1996
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: Union violated its duty of fair representation in handling employee’s grievances and by making negative comments about employee to employer.
Disposition: Dismissed. No violation found.
Perc Vol: 20
Perc Index: 27029
Decision Headnotes
800.02000 – Grievance Handling/Contract Administration
The exclusive representative has considerable discretion in the representation of employees within the grievance procedure. The Board has found that this discretion includes the exclusive representative's ability to decide in good faith that even a meritorious employee grievance should not be pursued; p. 6. Absent some compelling reason, a union is free to allocate its resources as it sees fit; p. 16, proposed dec. A union is not required to process a grievance if the chances of success are minimal; p. 17, proposed dec. The exclusive representative owes no duty of fair representation in matters which occurred before it became the exclusive representative; p. 20, proposed dec.
800.03000 – Negotiations
The exclusive representative is not obligated to bargain a particular item benefitting certain unit members; p. 19, proposed dec.
800.04000 – Scope of Duty; Internal Union Affairs
The exclusive representative owes no duty of fair representation in matters which occurred before it became the exclusive representative; p. 20, proposed dec.
1107.02000 – Weight Given to ALJ’s Proposed Decision: Findings, Conclusions, Credibility Resolutions
The Board grants great deference to the credibility determinations made by its ALJs. By virtue of having witnessed the live testimony the ALJ is in a better position to accurately make such determinations that the Board itself. Where there is no evidence in the record which supports overturning such credibility determinations, the Board will defer to the ALJ's findings; p. 6.
1205.04000 – Attorneys Fees and Costs
The Board will award attorneys fees and costs where a case is without arguable merit, frivolous, vexatious, dilatory, pursued in bad faith or is otherwise an abuse of process. Attorney fees will be denied if the issues are debatable and brought in good faith; p. 7. The Board is reluctant to order the payment of litigation expenses by employees who are representing themselves in PERB proceedings, because to do so might tend to discourage the legitimate pursuit of unfair practice charges; p. 7. The repeated representation of charges based on circumstances which have been considered by the Board in related cases previously suggests an abuse of process; p. 7.
1405.01000 – In General
The doctrine of collateral estoppel prohibits the charging party from complaining about the duty of fair representation when the same issue has been previously litigated before a PERB ALJ and is the subject of a final hearing officer decision; p. 18, proposed dec.