Keyword Search by Headnotes - California Public Employment Relations Board

Decision	Description	PERC Vol.	PERC Index	Date
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1303.11000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; ELECTIONS; Employer Conduct In determining whether to grant a stay of a representation election, OGC looks to “whether the facts alleged in the unfair practice charge, if true, would likely affect the vote of employees, and, thus, the outcome of the election.” (p. 5.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1303.11000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; ELECTIONS; Employer Conduct Where there is a final determination that the employer engaged in misconduct interfering with a representative’s ability to effectively represent bargaining unit employees (pp. 2-3), OGC may subsequently rely on the determination to find that the employer’s unlawful conduct would likely affect a decertification election and offer the employer an opportunity to show that any adverse effects of that conduct on employee free choice no longer exists, thereby permitting an election. (p. 5.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1303.11000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; ELECTIONS; Employer Conduct Where a blocking charge proves an employer engaged in unlawful conduct likely to affect a decertification election, the employer may present facts to overcome the likelihood that its unlawful conduct has affected voter choice. (p. 6.) Employee declarations, submitted by the employer, attesting to conditions as they existed when they filed the decertification petition do not provide any evidence that the present conditions are now neutral as required for a fair election. (pp. 3-4, 6.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1303.11000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; ELECTIONS; Employer Conduct The proper inquiry in a blocking charge is not the employees’ motivation for filing a decertification petition but whether the employer’s alleged unlawful conduct would prevent bargaining unit employees from exercising free choice in an election. (p. 6, fn. 5.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1503.01000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; In General On appeal from an administrative determination, the appellant must demonstrate how or why the challenged decision departs from the Board’s precedents or regulations, stating the specific issue(s) of procedure, fact, law or rationale that is appealed and state the grounds for the appeal. (p. 4, citing PERB Regulation 32360.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
A470E	Children of Promise Preparatory Academy 1503.03000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; Regulations Considered (By Number) (Continued) On appeal from an administrative determination, the appellant must demonstrate how or why the challenged decision departs from the Board’s precedents or regulations, stating the specific issue(s) of procedure, fact, law or rationale that is appealed and state the grounds for the appeal. (p. 4, citing PERB Regulation 32360.) more or view all topics or full text.	43	82	11/29/18
2667P	San Diego Metropolitan Transit System 101.03000: PERB: OPERATION, JURISDICTION, AUTHORITY; APPLICABILITY OF AND CONFLICTS WITH OTHER STATUTES; NLRA/LMRDA Precedent The Public Utilities Code’s transit district enabling acts generally grant SMCS jurisdiction to resolve questions concerning representation (QCR), including determinations of appropriate bargaining units. (p. 17.) Under PERB Regulation 93080, when deciding transit district representation cases, the Board shall apply relevant federal law and administrative practice developed under the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended. (p. 17.) In doing so, the Board shall apply federal law under the LMRA unless (1) the question presented is governed by an explicit provision of the applicable transit district act, or (2) considerations unique to public sector labor relations require deviation from federal law. (pp. 17-18.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	60	09/06/19
2667P	San Diego Metropolitan Transit System 1105.03000: CASE PROCESSING PROCEDURES; EVIDENCE; Burden of Proof; Weight of Evidence; Presumptions and Inferences; Affirmative Defenses PERB Regulation 93040, governing hearings before SMCS, does not prohibit consideration of hearsay evidence. SMCS and the Board may thus consider hearsay evidence while taking into account its hearsay nature when determining how much evidentiary weight to give it. (p. 30, fn. 21.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	60	09/06/19
2667P	San Diego Metropolitan Transit System 1105.06000: CASE PROCESSING PROCEDURES; EVIDENCE; Hearsay PERB Regulation 93040, governing hearings before SMCS, does not prohibit consideration of hearsay evidence. SMCS and the Board may thus consider hearsay evidence while taking into account its hearsay nature when determining how much evidentiary weight to give it. (p. 30, fn. 21.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	60	09/06/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1107.20000: CASE PROCESSING PROCEDURES;PROCEDURES BEFORE THE BOARD; Other Under PERB Regulation 32215, the Board may order the Division of Administrative Law to conduct an expedited hearing and, upon completion of the hearing, that the record be submitted to the Board itself for a decision on the merits. (p. 12.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) The Legislature’s failure to address successorship in the MMBA does not mean it intended to prohibit application of the successorship doctrine to local public agencies. Legislative silence is not the equivalent of positive legislation. (p. 18.) Because the NLRA and MMBA similarly protect employees’ rights to bargain collectively through an employee representative of their own choosing and bar employers from refusing to negotiate with their employees’ chosen representative, there is no statutory reason to preclude application of the successorship doctrine in California’s public sector. (pp. 18-19.) However, differences between private and public sector employment require a more flexible accretion policy in the public sector to ensure that bargaining units are appropriately and rationally structured. (p. 19.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) PERB applies the three-part federal test when determining successorship but follows PERB precedent to determine whether employees hired from a private sector predecessor employer are appropriately accreted to existing public sector bargaining units after a transfer of ownership. (p. 20.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) PERB’s three-part test to determine successorship examines: (1) whether the alleged successor employer hired a “substantial and representative complement” of the predecessor’s employees, (2) whether a substantial continuity of operations exists between the predecessor and successor employers, and (3) whether accretion of the predecessor’s employees into the successor employer’s existing units is appropriate. (pp. 20, 22, 25-28.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) Whether a successor employer has hired a substantial and representative complement of the predecessor’s employees turns on whether the majority of employees in the successor bargaining unit worked for the predecessor employer. (p. 20.) Majority status is determined by comparing the number of predecessor employees the successor hired with the total number of employees in the bargaining unit the union claims to still represent. (p. 21.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) To determine whether a substantial continuity of operations exists, the Board examines whether the business of both employers is essentially the same; whether the successor’s employees are doing the same jobs in the same working conditions under the same supervisors; and whether the new entity has the same production process, produces the same products, and maintains the same body of customers. (p. 23.) These factors are based upon the totality of the circumstances and assessed primarily from the perspective of the retained employees. (Ibid.) An employer cannot rely on prospective operational changes that may or may not be implemented in the future to create doubt as to the substantial continuity of operations. (p. 25.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) The federal presumption in favor of single facility bargaining units in the healthcare industry is incompatible with PERB’s preference for broad bargaining units in the public sector. (p. 27, fn. 24.) PERB seeks to avoid both unit fragmentation and proliferation to protect employee representation rights and to balance those rights with public employers’ interest in maintaining operational efficiency. (p. 27.) The final question in successorship analysis is therefore whether accreting the new employees to the successor’s existing units is appropriate. (Ibid.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) In accretion cases, the inquiry is whether the classifications to be added to the existing unit share a “community of interest” with employees in the existing unit. In its analysis, PERB examines: job function and duties; wages; method of compensation; hours; employment benefits; supervision; qualifications, training, and skills; contact and interchange with other employees; integration of work functions; and common goals. (p. 28.) This determination is based on the totality of the circumstances. (p. 29.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1310.07000: REPRESENTATION ISSUES; UNIT MODIFICATION; Accretion, Adding classification(s) to existing unit (PERB jurisdictions) Under the MMBA, local public agencies may adopt reasonable rules and regulations governing unit determinations and representation elections. (p. 32.) Where a successor employer hires its predecessor’s employees to existing classifications and appropriately accretes them to an existing bargaining unit, it has not modified the unit or otherwise run afoul of its unit modification rules. (pp. 32-33.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1407.01000: GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION; General Principles The Legislature’s failure to address successorship in the MMBA does not mean it intended to prohibit application of the successorship doctrine to local public agencies. Legislative silence is not the equivalent of positive legislation. (p. 18.) Because the NLRA and MMBA similarly protect employees’ rights to bargain collectively through an employee representative of their own choosing and bar employers from refusing to negotiate with their employees’ chosen representative, there is no statutory reason to preclude application of the successorship doctrine in California’s public sector. (pp. 18-19.) However, differences between private and public sector employment require a more flexible accretion policy in the public sector to ensure that bargaining units are appropriately and rationally structured. (p. 19.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1407.01000: GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION; General Principles Though PERB may look to analogous federal precedent for guidance in construing California’s public sector labor relations statutes, it is not controlling authority. Thus, when federal law and the PERB-administered statutes serve dissimilar purposes, we are not constrained to follow federal precedent. (p. 28.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1503.01000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; In General Under PERB Regulation 32147, the Board itself may expedite the processing of a case presenting an important question of law, the early resolution of which is likely to improve labor relations, at all levels before PERB. (pp. 11-12.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1503.01000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; In General Under PERB Regulation 32215, the Board may order the Division of Administrative Law to conduct an expedited hearing and, upon completion of the hearing, that the record be submitted to the Board itself for a decision on the merits. (p. 12.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1503.01000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; In General Under PERB Regulation 32176, a factual finding cannot be based solely on uncorroborated hearsay that does not satisfy one of the statutory exceptions. But Respondent’s evidence sufficiently corroborated Charging Party’s hearsay exhibits such that Charging Party met its burden of proof to demonstrate majority status. The Board rejected Respondent’s argument that it must ignore relevant evidence merely because it was not presented in the Charging Party’s case-in-chief but by the party without the burden of proof. (p. 21, fn. 23.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1503.03000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; Regulations Considered (By Number) (Continued) Under PERB Regulation 32147, the Board itself may expedite the processing of a case presenting an important question of law, the early resolution of which is likely to improve labor relations, at all levels before PERB. (pp. 11-12.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19
2670M	County of Santa Clara 1503.03000: MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES; REGULATIONS; Regulations Considered (By Number) (Continued) Under PERB Regulation 32215, the Board may order the Division of Administrative Law to conduct an expedited hearing and, upon completion of the hearing, that the record be submitted to the Board itself for a decision on the merits. (p. 12.) more or view all topics or full text.	44	67	09/20/19