Decision 2441E – Poway Unified School District
LA-UM-867-E
Decision Date: June 29, 2015
Decision Type: PERB Decision
Description: The Association filed a unit modification petition seeking to add substitute employees to the existing classified unit. The Hearing Officer determined that of the 135 classifications petitioned for; only 12 were filled by a substitute employee at the time of the hearing. Of 12 filled classifications, the Hearing Officer determined that those substitutes shared a sufficient community of interested with the rest of the classified bargaining and placed them in the bargaining unit.
Disposition: The Board affirmed the proposed decision. There was no evidentiary support for the employer’s contention that the petitioned-for substitutes were casual employees such that their exclusion from the bargaining unit was appropriate. Rather, the record established that the substitutes at issue had a reasonable expectation of continued employment.
Perc Vol: 40
Perc Index: 35
Decision Headnotes
200.07000 – Temporary, Part-Time or Substitute Employees
Casual employees are those who have a sporadic or intermittent relationship with the employer and therefore lack a sufficient community of interest with regular employees to be included in the regular unit. Criteria for distinguishing “casual” employees from employees with collective bargaining rights include a lack of reasonable expectation of future employment with that employer.
1107.20000 – Other
Unlike an administrative decision that is final and effective upon issuance, a proposed decision only becomes final and effective if no exceptions are filed. Since exceptions were filed in this matter, the proposed decision does not become final and the proposed order does not go into effect. As such, a request for stay of activity is not proper.
1309.01000 – In General/Definition of Appropriate Unit
Casual employees are those who have a sporadic or intermittent relationship with the employer and therefore lack a sufficient community of interest with regular employees to be included in the regular unit. The mere fact that an employee does not work a particular number of days or percentage of time does not, in and of itself, indicate that the employee does not share a community of interest with other unit members. Criteria for distinguishing “casual” employees from employees with collective bargaining rights include a lack of reasonable expectation of future employment with that employer.