Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

concerning subjects within the scope of representation, unless that information is otherwise privileged from disclosure. 98

 The exclusive representative is entitled to obtain the personal contact information, including job title, department, work location, work, home, and personal cellular telephone numbers, and personal email addresses on file with the employer, of all represented employees, including those who have not joined the union, at least once every 120 days unless more frequent or more detailed lists are required by an agreement between the public agency and the exclusive representative. 99 Such information, however, shall not be disclosed if an employee has submitted a written request to the employer objecting to such disclosure. 100  An agency may not knowingly provide inaccurate information regarding the agency’s financial resources. 101

C. L OCAL R ULES

1. E MPLOYER –E MPLOYEE R ELATIONS R ESOLUTION As stated previously, section 3507 authorizes local agencies to adopt “reasonable rules and regulations after consulting in good faith” with representatives of all its employee organizations. Commonly, local agencies exercise this rulemaking authority by adopting an Employer- Employee Relations Resolution or Ordinance. While referring to “City” throughout these documents for consistency, the Suggested Employer-Employee Relations Resolution and contract provisions can be easily adopted for use by any agency governed by the MMBA. Agencies may need to adapt or deviate from these sample documents based on their own unique local circumstances, needs, or concerns. The document is presented in the form of a resolution. With minor reconstruction, the policies could be presented in the form of an ordinance. Each agency should decide whether its basic policy regarding employee relations should be adopted as a resolution or an ordinance. A resolution may be easier to enact or amend inasmuch as it does not carry the requirement of two readings as does an ordinance. There may also be some minor cost savings since there is no publishing requirement. On the other hand, if the agency is adopting a carefully developed Employer-Employee Relations Policy, it may choose to use an ordinance to achieve as much permanence as possible. Furthermore, inasmuch as memoranda of understanding are commonly adopted in resolution form, there is an advantage to having the underlying policy that controls the procedural basis for negotiating such memoranda in ordinance form so that the policy cannot be inadvertently modified through such a resolution. In either case, the governing board or council is required to approve adoption or amendment.

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 17