Decision 2233M – County of Riverside
LA-CE-470-M; LA-CO-85-M
Decision Date: January 23, 2012
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: The ALJ ruled that the employer violated the MMBA by denying access to non-work areas by non-employee agents of SEIU and that SEIU violated the MMBA by accessing non-union bulletin boards.
Disposition: The Board held that the MMBA provides an implied right of access to non-employee agents of the union, subject to reasonable regulation which the employer demonstrates is necessary to the efficient operation of the employer’s business and/or safety of its employees and others, and narrowly drawn to avoid interference with statutory rights. Here, the County violated the MMBA by preventing SEIU’s non-employee agents from traversing some work areas and some patient care areas in the Riverside County Regional Medical Center in order to post and update SEIU materials on union bulletin boards designated for SEIU use. The Board held that requiring advance notice by the union before it accessed non-work areas was unreasonable and violated the MMBA. The Board ruled that the union violated the County’s reasonable rule requiring advance notice of the union’s non-employee agents access to work areas. The remedy ordered the employer to cease and desist from denying SEIU access to designated bulletin boards and to non-work areas for the purpose of speaking to employees during non-work time and to cease and desist from making unilateral changes in the access policy.
Perc Vol: 36
Perc Index: 113
Decision Headnotes
401.04000 – Access – Union Right
We construe the MMBA to afford employee and non-employee representatives of employee organizations alike, access to areas in which employees work. This access is subject to reasonable employer regulation upon the employer’s showing that a particular regulation is both necessary to the efficient operation of the employer’s business and/or the safety of its employees and others, and narrowly drawn to avoid overbroad, unnecessary interference with the exercise of statutory rights.