Decision A445M – City of Watsonville
SF-IM-176-M
Decision Date: June 27, 2017
Decision Type: Administrative Appeal
Description: Charging party appealed the Office of the General Counsel’s administrative decision that the request for factfinding was untimely pursuant to the MMBA and PERB Regulations.
Disposition: The Board affirmed the administrative decision finding that the Association failed to make its request for factfinding within the 30-day window outlined in the MMBA and PERB Regulations. (Dissent—Member Banks.)
Perc Vol: 42
Perc Index: 9
Decision Headnotes
900.01000 – In General
The timeliness of an employee organization’s request for factfinding is properly based upon an initial written notice of a declaration of impasse. In situations where an employee organization has provided the employer with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, and it later believes that the parties are no longer at impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to withdraw its declaration of impasse. In situations where it is the employer who has provided the employee organization with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to keep track of the statutory window period and to file its request for factfinding within that period. Employee organizations’ factfinding request was untimely because it was filed more than one year after the organizations initially provided the city with a written declaration of impasse and the organizations never withdrew the declaration. Neither the parties’ post-impasse conduct nor MMBA section 3505.7’s requirement that unions and employers meet and confer prior to the public agency’s adoption of its annual budget revived the employee organizations’ right to request factfinding upon reaching a second impasse in the same round of negotiations.
900.04000 – During Impasse
The timeliness of an employee organization’s request for factfinding is properly based upon an initial written notice of a declaration of impasse. In situations where an employee organization has provided the employer with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, and it later believes that the parties are no longer at impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to withdraw its declaration of impasse. In situations where it is the employer who has provided the employee organization with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to keep track of the statutory window period and to file its request for factfinding within that period. Employee organizations’ factfinding request was untimely because it was filed more than one year after the organizations initially provided the city with a written declaration of impasse and the organizations never withdrew the declaration. Neither the parties’ post-impasse conduct nor MMBA section 3505.7’s requirement that unions and employers meet and confer prior to the public agency’s adoption of its annual budget revived the employee organizations’ right to request factfinding upon reaching a second impasse in the same round of negotiations.
900.01000 – In General
The timeliness of an employee organization’s request for factfinding is properly based upon an initial written notice of a declaration of impasse. In situations where an employee organization has provided the employer with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, and it later believes that the parties are no longer at impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to withdraw its declaration of impasse. In situations where it is the employer who has provided the employee organization with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to keep track of the statutory window period and to file its request for factfinding within that period. Employee organizations’ factfinding request was untimely because it was filed more than one year after the organizations initially provided the city with a written declaration of impasse and the organizations never withdrew the declaration. Neither the parties’ post-impasse conduct nor MMBA section 3505.7’s requirement that unions and employers meet and confer prior to the public agency’s adoption of its annual budget revived the employee organizations’ right to request factfinding upon reaching a second impasse in the same round of negotiations.
900.02000 – Declaration/Determination of Impasse
The timeliness of an employee organization’s request for factfinding is properly based upon an initial written notice of a declaration of impasse. In situations where an employee organization has provided the employer with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, and it later believes that the parties are no longer at impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to withdraw its declaration of impasse. In situations where it is the employer who has provided the employee organization with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to keep track of the statutory window period and to file its request for factfinding within that period. Employee organizations’ factfinding request was untimely because it was filed more than one year after the organizations initially provided the city with a written declaration of impasse and the organizations never withdrew the declaration. Neither the parties’ post-impasse conduct nor MMBA section 3505.7’s requirement that unions and employers meet and confer prior to the public agency’s adoption of its annual budget revived the employee organizations’ right to request factfinding upon reaching a second impasse in the same round of negotiations.
900.04000 – During Impasse
The timeliness of an employee organization’s request for factfinding is properly based upon an initial written notice of a declaration of impasse. In situations where an employee organization has provided the employer with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, and it later believes that the parties are no longer at impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to withdraw its declaration of impasse. In situations where it is the employer who has provided the employee organization with a written notice of a declaration of impasse, it is incumbent on the employee organization to keep track of the statutory window period and to file its request for factfinding within that period. Employee organizations’ factfinding request was untimely because it was filed more than one year after the organizations initially provided the city with a written declaration of impasse and the organizations never withdrew the declaration. Neither the parties’ post-impasse conduct nor MMBA section 3505.7’s requirement that unions and employers meet and confer prior to the public agency’s adoption of its annual budget revived the employee organizations’ right to request factfinding upon reaching a second impasse in the same round of negotiations.