BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session AB 2835 (Cooper) - Public employees: orientation and informational programs: recognized employee organizations ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: June 21, 2016 |Policy Vote: P.E. & R. 3 - 2 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: AB 2835 would (1) require all public employers to provide a specified employee orientation to all newly hired public employees, (2) authorize the recognized employee organization to participate in the employee orientation for represented employees, and (3) provide that orientations for current employees are subject to bargaining. Fiscal Impact: This bill would result in unknown General and special fund costs, at a minimum in the low millions of dollars annually, for state departments to modify their administration functions to implement the provisions of the bill. Proposed Law: AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 1 of ? This bill would do all of the following: Require public employers to provide all newly hired public employees, as defined, a public employee orientation within two months of the time of hiring that shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following: (1) the personnel and civil service policies of the public employer, including sexual harassment, whistleblower, violence prevention, and safety plans, (2) any applicable civil service rules, (3) any ethics or conflict-of-interest rules to which the public employee is subject, as applicable, and (4) any employer-sponsored benefits programs for which the public employee is eligible. Provide that a public employee orientation shall meet the following minimum requirements: o Take place during the regular workday and at the worksite, unless the public employer and recognized employee organization or exclusive representative have agreed otherwise. The scheduling of orientations shall be agreed upon with the recognized employee organization or exclusive representative. All newly hired public employees shall attend in person. o If employees are represented by an employee organization or exclusive representative, permit those representatives to make a presentation of 30 minutes that shall begin within one hour of the start of the employer's orientation that shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following: (1) information about the memorandum of understanding, including the term of the agreement, eligibility to vote on its ratification, and how to access the contract, (2) any union benefit for which members may be eligible, and (3) contact information for the exclusive representative. AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 2 of ? If no representative from the employee organization or exclusive representative is present during the designated start time of the union portion of the orientation, there is no requirement that they be afforded additional time. If employees in different bargaining units are provided a combined orientation, employees in each bargaining unit shall be provided a separate space in which the union representing each bargaining unit shall be permitted to address its bargaining unit members during the time allotted for the union's presentation. In addition to other representatives, each employee organization or exclusive representative may designate one employee representative who may attend the orientation on paid time. The content of the union's presentation shall be determined solely by the employee organization or exclusive representative and shall not be subject to negotiation. The presentation shall not include advocacy for or against a candidate for political office or ballot measure. Prior to implementing the employee orientation requirements, the public employer shall provide at least the level of access to, and the opportunity to make presentations at, orientations that the public employer allowed the employee organization or exclusive representative as of June 1, 2016, and nothing in the bill shall be construed as infringing upon or limiting that access. Require the public employer to provide to the employee organization or exclusive representative, the job title, department, work location, phone number, and home address of any newly hired employee within seven days of the date AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 3 of ? of hire and also notice of a scheduled orientation not less than 10 days prior to the orientation, unless earlier notice is required by an agreement with the employee organization or exclusive representative. The employee information to be provided by the employer must be provided to the employee organization or exclusive representative regardless of whether the newly hired employee was previously employed by the public employer. The information shall be provided in a manner consistent with existing law restricting disclosure of information regarding public employees and participants in the address confidentiality program which protects personal information of specified individuals such as law enforcement and victims of domestic abuse. Does not prohibit a public employer and employee organization or exclusive representative from negotiating an agreement providing for orientation sessions that vary from the bill's default requirements. However, if the public employer and the employee organization or exclusive representative do not reach mutual agreement regarding the orientation sessions, all of the requirements of this bill shall apply. Clarify that a public employer does not unlawfully support or favor an employee organization or encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another as prohibited by existing law, as specified, by permitting an employee organization or exclusive representative the opportunity to present at employee orientations and informational programs as required by this bill or consistent with a negotiated agreement. Clarify that existing law governing public employer-employee relations, as specified, includes an obligation to meet and confer regarding informational programs for current state employees that are similar to the state employee orientations required by the bill. AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 4 of ? The establishment, scheduling, and administration of these programs shall be negotiated by the employer and the employee organization or exclusive representative pursuant to the applicable law governing the public employment relationship at issue in the same manner as other matters within the scope of representation. The content of any union presentation included as part of the informational program shall be determined solely by the employee organization or exclusive representative and shall not be subject to negotiation. The failure to reach agreement on these employee informational programs shall be subject to the mediation provisions of the chapter governing the public employment relationship at issue, in the same manner as other matters within the scope of representation. Notwithstanding provisions of the California Public Records Act exempting specified records from disclosure, requires the public employer to provide the employee organization or exclusive representative with a list containing the name, job title, department, work location, phone number, and home address of all employees in the bargaining unit at least every 90 days, unless more frequent or more detailed lists are required by an agreement with the union. The information shall be provided in a manner consistent with existing law restricting disclosure of information regarding public employees and participants in the address confidentiality program which protects personal information of specified individuals such as law enforcement and victims of domestic abuse. Define public employers that are subject to this bill's provisions and defines "newly hired public employee" to mean any employee, whether permanent, temporary, full time, or part time, hired by a public employer, who is still employed as of the date of the new hire orientation. AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 5 of ? Require PERB to have jurisdiction over violations of the requirements of this bill and provides that PERB's powers and duties apply, as specified. State that this bill will not result in a local mandate, as specified, but that if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains mandated costs, reimbursements to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code. Staff Comments: With respect to new employee orientation, the complexity of implementing the bill would stem from the fact that state departments do not conduct orientations in a uniform manner. Some larger departments likely have a formal new employee orientation program, while some smaller departments may just sit new employees down with the manager or HR staff and review information at the time of hire. For state departments that already conduct new employee orientations the requirements in this bill may go beyond what the department currently covers. For example, some departments may use computer-based training to cover their policies dealing with ethics, sexual harassment, and data security. It would seem that the bill's requirements could be hard for state departments to coordinate each and every time there are new employees, and would likely require additional personnel and/or labor relations staff. Because some state departments hire as many as 1,000 people per year, this would bill create the possibility of ongoing and continuous orientation-mode, which would be costly and administratively difficult based on the requirements outlined in the bill. An additional cost driver for many state (and local) agencies would be instances where they have multiple locations. State AB 2835 (Cooper) Page 6 of ? department with such field offices would include CalTrans, the Franchise Tax Board, the Board of Equalization, the Department of General Services and the Department of Toxic Substances Control. It would be significantly more cost effective to provide trainings at a central location, such as headquarters. Training staff, not all of which are likely to be needed for the entire duration of the training, would be able to return to work, rather than losing time in travel. Additionally the department may be required to pay staff at the employee orientation overtime, travel reimbursements, and potentially lodging in order to meet the requirement that the new employee orientation occur at the employees' actual worksite. All told, the state cost resulting from the bill would be unknown, but at a minimum would exceed the low millions of dollars annually. The cost to local government agencies, which are larger in number but would experience the same set of implementation challenges, would be significantly higher. -- END --