Decision 1986E – Rio School District
LA-CE-5090-E
Decision Date: November 21, 2008
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: The Association alleged that the District engaged in bad faith bargaining, failed to participate in impasse procedures in good faith, and retaliated against Association president, and interfered with her and Association’s rights, by reprimanding her for failing to provide requested information relevant to accusations she made that district administrators were improperly evaluating teachers.
Disposition: The Board affirmed the partial dismissal of the charge. The charge failed to establish that the District bargained in bad faith or participated in impasse procedures in bad faith because the District’s declaration of impasse was not a per se violation of the duty to bargain and the totality of the District’s conduct showed it intended to move negotiations forward by invoking and participating in EERA impasse procedures. The charge also failed to establish a nexus between the Association president’s protected activity and the reprimand. Finally, the charge failed to establish a prima facie case of interference because discipline for disobeying a direct order would not tend to chill the president’s right to speak on issues of employer-employee relations.
Perc Vol: 33
Perc Index: 8
Decision Headnotes
300.15000 – Speech
Employee organization president’s accusations at school board meeting that school administrators were not properly evaluating teachers constituted protected activity because accusations related to legitimate matters of concern about employer-employee relations and were not so disruptive as to lose protection.
400.01000 – In General; Standards
Reprimand of employee organization president for failure to provide district superintendent with information to support president’s allegations that school district improperly evaluated particular teachers did not interfere with president’s or employee organization’s protected rights because discipline for disobeying a direct order would not tend to chill president’s right to speak on issues of employer-employee relations.
503.03000 – Warning Letters, Reprimands, Evaluations
Letter from district superintendent to employee organization president requesting information relevant to president’s allegations that district administrators improperly evaluated particular teachers was not adverse action because it did not threaten future discipline. Reprimand for failure to provide the requested information was an adverse action.
504.04000 – Timing of Action
Timing of adverse action, one week after employee engaged in protected activity, supports an inference of unlawful motive.
504.14000 – Other/In General
Timing alone is insufficient to establish a nexus between protected activity and adverse action. Though the charge established timing, it failed to allege additional facts showing the required nexus.
601.01000 – In General, Per Se and Totality of Conduct; Prima Facie Case
Untimely or unfounded declaration of impasse is not a per se violation of the duty to bargain. Under totality of conduct test, employer’s declaration of impasse on successor collective bargaining agreement, even though the parties had not bargained over the employer’s initial proposal, did not indicate bad faith because the parties were already at impasse over salary and health benefits in re-opener negotiations and declaration was intended to move negotiations forward by invoking EERA impasse procedures. Even if impasse declaration indicated bad faith, charge failed to allege other indicators of bad faith bargaining.
605.05000 – Other
Untimely or unfounded declaration of impasse is not a per se violation of the duty to bargain.
606.15000 – Other
Employer’s declaration of impasse on successor collective bargaining agreement, even though the parties had not bargained over the employer’s initial proposal, did not indicate bad faith because the parties were already at impasse over salary and health benefits in re-opener negotiations and declaration was intended to move negotiations forward by invoking EERA impasse procedures. Even if impasse declaration indicated bad faith, charge failed to allege other indicators of bad faith bargaining.
900.02000 – Declaration/Determination of Impasse
Employer’s failure to withdraw its request that PERB certify impasse after employee organization stated in writing that it wished to negotiate over successor collective bargaining agreement did not show the employer failed to participate in impasse procedures in good faith. Employer’s conduct did not indicate it lacked subjective intent to reach agreement but instead showed that it wanted to proceed with statutory impasse procedures as soon as possible.