California Municipal Law Blog
category:
Employment Law
by David G. Ritchie on October 23, 2017
posted in
Employment Law, Unions,
If public employers have not already done so, all should be prepared to engage with exclusive representative organizations over employee orientation and providing employee personal contact information to those exclusive representatives in the immediate future.
Assembly Bill 119 is in effect now, and provided recognized employee exclusive representative organizations access to employees during employee orientation and also requires that employers provide employee organizations with personal contact information for bargaining unit employees on a regular basis.
... Continue Reading
tags:
AB 119, Orientation, Public Employees, Unions,
by David G. Ritchie on March 31, 2016
posted in
Employment Law, Recent Court Decisions, Unions,
The Fourth District Court of Appeals issued two decisions yesterday that held that fact-finding under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”) applies to all impasses between exclusive representatives and MMBA public agencies such as cities, counties, and special districts. The results in these cases means that when impasse is reached in negotiations involving a city, county or special district with an exclusive representative employee organization, and that dispute involves subject matters within the scope of representation, the public agencies could be forced to engage in non-binding ... Continue Reading
tags:
AB 646, Fact-finding, MOUs, PERB,
by David G. Ritchie on March 29, 2016
posted in
Employment Law, Recent Court Decisions, U.S. Supreme Court, Unions,
Previously we wrote about Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (a link to our previous article is here), a case involving whether public-sector union fair share arrangements are invalid because they violate individual first amendment rights.
Today, the Supreme court divided equally in deciding the case and issued a one-sentence decision affirming the Appellate Court decision and leaving earlier precedent, including the Abood case intact (as criticized as it has become.) The case was decided by an eight-member Court, which could have held the case over for re-argument after confirmation ... Continue Reading
tags:
Abood Case, California Teachers Association, Fair Share Arrangements, Friedrichs, Ninth Circuit, Union Shop,
by Betsy Martyn on January 28, 2016
posted in
CEQA, Damages, Elections, Employee Benefits, Employment Law, Ethics, Legislative Updates, Medical Marijuana, Proposition 215, Public Records Act, Water, Zoning,
The following laws are effective January 1, 2016, unless otherwise provided. These legislative changes were selected as those of importance and/or interest to public agencies.
... Continue Reading
tags:
2016 Legislative Session, California Legislature, New laws,
by David G. Ritchie on January 11, 2016
posted in
U.S. Supreme Court, Unions,
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Docket No. 14-915, a case in which the Court will be asked to decide whether “agency shop” arrangements violate the First Amendment rights of public-sector school employees on the premise that a public-sector unions’ activities are inseparably integrated into political speech.
“Agency shop” is a permitted arrangement under California law whereby a union can charge non-members a fee, sometimes called an “agency fee” or “fair share fee” for negotiation and representation ... Continue Reading
tags:
Agency Fees, Agency Shop, Dills Act, Employer-Employee Relations Act, Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, Meyers Milias Brown Act, Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act, Trial Court Employee Protection & Governance Act, Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act, Union Dues,
