Public Sector Case Notes

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Author: By Stewart Weinberg
• Publication year: 2016
• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 2

Public Sector Case Notes

By Stewart Weinberg

Stewart Weinberg, a 1960 graduate of Boalt Hall, is a shareholder of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld in Alameda, a union-side labor law firm. Mr. Weinberg specializes in the representation of unions and employees in the public sector.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE TEMPORARY FACULTY

Collective Bargaining Agreement Providing for Arbitration of Faculty Rights Governed Community College Right to Terminate Faculty

Santa Monica Cmty. College Faculty Ass'n v. Santa Monica Cmty. College Dist., 243 Cal. App. 4th 538 (2015)

California Education Code section 87665 provides that the Governing Board of a Community College District may terminate the employment of a temporary employee, at its discretion, at the end of a day or a week, whichever is appropriate. It also provides that the decision to terminate is not subject to judicial review, except as to the timing of the termination. California Education Code section 87482.9 provides that the issue of earning and retaining annual reappointment rights for temporary and part-time faculty is a mandatory subject of negotiation between the community college employer and an exclusive representative.

In the instant case, the union and the community college district entered into a collective bargaining agreement that gave part-time temporary faculty who had taught five consecutive semesters preferential reemployment status, that could be revoked only upon certain conditions. The community college district revoked the preferential status of three part-time temporary faculty and advised them that they would not be reemployed in the future. The union filed grievances on behalf of the faculty members. At the arbitration of the grievance, the community college district refused to produce any evidence to support its position that the faculty members were guilty of misconduct, arguing that section 87665 made its termination of those faculty members unreviewable. The court of appeal disagreed and held that section 87482.9 controls when the district elected to revoke the faculty member's reappointment rights rather than terminate the faculty member. Therefore, an arbitrator's award in favor of the faculty members was enforceable.

DUTY TO BARGAIN UNDER MEYERS-MILIAS-BROWN ACT

PERB Rules City of San Diego Violated Duty to Bargain Over Proposition B

San Diego Municipal Employees Ass'n v. City of San Diego, PERB Dec. No. 2464-M (and related cases) (2015)

The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) decided that the City of San Diego violated the duty to meet and confer under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act...