Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

ii. Other Terms and Conditions of Employment

Promotional Procedures

 Promotional procedures for unit positions fall within the scope of bargaining. 225

Layoff Procedures/Reduction in Force / Reemployment

Layoff rules are a mandatory subject of bargaining. 226

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 Historically, specific impacts of layoffs that are not covered by a negotiated layoff procedure are within the scope of bargaining, but not the decision to reorganize or lay off employees. PERB, however, has held that a decision to reorganize and lay off employees is negotiable where an entire classification is eliminated and bargaining unit work is transferred to another bargaining unit that was already performing many of the same duties. 227 The Court of Appeal has also recognized a distinction between an employer’s managerial decision and the implementation of that decision. In Indio Police Command Unit v. City of Indio , the Court ruled that an employer’s reorganization plan was subject to bargaining where the action significantly affected employees’ wages, hours, or working conditions, outweighing the employer’s decision-making authority. 228 Thus, it is increasingly likely that an agency must negotiate regarding a reorganization and not just over the effects of the reorganization.  An employer should ensure specificity and clarity in layoff procedures while avoiding any limitations on the agency’s authority to make layoff decisions.  Employers should also negotiate specific provisions pertaining to determination of seniority, such as whether any leaves of absences are excluded from the calculation of seniority.  Other layoff procedures may cover such issues as the order of layoff, demotion in lieu of layoff, notice of layoff, reemployment lists, recall from layoff (including restoration of seniority and benefits), exceptions to the order of layoff, bumping rights, and transfer rights.

Job Descriptions/Job Duties

 Changing a job description to reflect new job requirements, (e.g., skills, experiences or education) falls within the scope of representation, unless the new job requirement is reasonably related to existing duties.  When the change in a job description only updates an out-of-date description to reflect current requirements, the change is not within the scope of representation. 229

Workload/Caseload

 Eligibility worker caseload assignments are a mandatory subject of bargaining. 230

 Union proposals concerning staffing which intrude into managerial policy decisions regarding the level of fire prevention are beyond the scope of representation. 231

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 41