Labor Relations Fundamentals for Community College Districts

It is a well-established principle that employees must obey management’s orders and carry out their job assignments, even if believed to violate the agreement. 133 The employee can later turn to the grievance procedure for relief. Insubordination is disobedience to constituted authority. It can also be an employee’s refusal or failure to perform as directed. An exception to this “obey now-grieve later” doctrine exists where obedience would involve an imminent and substantive threat to one’s health or safety. Where the order meets the test of reasonableness, most third party neutrals are inclined to sustain management’s right to require compliance with an order even though an employee may question it. This is commensurate with the basic management right to direct the work force. c. Unsatisfactory Performance The area of unsatisfactory performance is troublesome to define. It is best defined as the failure to meet job expectations. Management must demonstrate that it has communicated expectations, warnings regarding inadequate performance and adverse impact, and consequences of the inadequate performance, and demonstrate an effort to provide assistance or training before attempting disciplinary action for unsatisfactory performance. Supervisor files can be used to document an employee’s continued failure to improve performance. d. Off-Duty Misconduct What an employee does during his/her off duty time is generally not within the control of the district. However, if an employee engages in off duty misconduct and such misconduct adversely affects the district, the district may be able to take remedial action. In order for a district to take disciplinary action against an employee for off duty misconduct the district must be able to show that there is a nexus between the (off duty) misconduct and the district’s ability to operate effectively. 134 In 1999 the Legislature conferred the Labor Commissioner with jurisdiction over public employee claims for lost wages due to discipline for lawful conduct occurring during non- working hours away from the employer’s premises. 135 Therefore, districts must use caution when deciding to discipline an employee for off-duty conduct. 2. U NION R IGHTS There are a number of management actions that can potentially infringe, or be viewed to infringe, on union activities. This can be a troublesome area unless the language, policy and procedure for management actions that may impact union activities are definitive. For example, if management refuses to permit use of release time for union activities due to operational requirements, but simultaneously permits another employee in the same job class to take vacation on the same day, this may be viewed as unfairly restricting union activities. Recrimination or anti-union animus clearly should be avoided, and first line supervisors may require the assistance of middle management in defining exactly what actions would fall under those categories.

Labor Relations Fundamentals for Community College Districts © 2019 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 53