BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND RETIREMENT
Dr. Richard Pan, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 686 Hearing Date: 4/13/15
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|Author: |Pan |
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|Version: |4/06/15 As amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Glenn Miles |
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Subject: Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act:
collective bargaining for University of California and Hastings
College of the Law sworn peace officer supervisory employees
SOURCE: California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
DIGEST: This bill would provide full collective bargaining
rights pursuant to the Higher Education Employer-Employee
Relations Act (HEERA) to supervisory employees employed as sworn
peace officers by the University of California (UC) or the
Hastings College of the Law (Hastings).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes HEERA which provides a statutory framework to
regulate labor relations between the UC, the California State
University (CSU), and Hastings and their respective employees.
2)Authorizes recognized employee organizations to represent
employees covered under HEERA in collective bargaining with
their employers over matters within the scope of
representation, as defined, including grievances, labor
disputes, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of
employment.
3)For supervisory employees, limits collective bargaining rights
provided under HEERA.
SB 686 (Pan) Page 2 of ?
4)Defines "supervisory employee" for purposes of HEERA as any
individual having authority, in the interest of the employer,
to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote,
discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or
responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances,
or effectively to recommend such action if exercising such
authority requires the use of independent judgment rather than
is of a routine or clerical nature.
5)Provides that academic or faculty employees, department chairs
or heads of similar academic units or programs, or other
employees who perform similar duties primarily in the interest
of or on behalf of members of the academic department, unit,
or program shall not be deemed a supervisory employee solely
because of such duties. However, HEERA also creates a
rebuttable presumption for UC and Hastings employees wherein
such employees appointed by the employer to an indefinite term
shall be deemed to be supervisory employees.
6)States that employees whose duties are substantially similar
to those of their subordinates shall not be considered to be
supervisory employees.
7)Prohibits supervisory employees from participating on behalf
of nonsupervisory employees in the handling of grievances, in
meet and confer sessions, or in voting on questions of
ratification or rejection of memoranda of understanding
governing nonsupervisory employees.
This bill:
1)Makes HEERA provisions that limit the collective bargaining
rights of supervisory employees inapplicable to supervisory
sworn peace officers employed by UC and Hastings so that such
employees would receive full collective bargaining rights
pursuant to HEERA.
2)Provides that HEERA provisions to prohibit supervisory
employees from participating on behalf of nonsupervisory
employees in the handling of grievances, in meet and confer
sessions, or in voting on questions of ratification or
rejection of memoranda of understanding governing
nonsupervisory employees shall still apply.
SB 686 (Pan) Page 3 of ?
3)Prohibits supervisory sworn peace officers employed by UC and
Hastings from being placed in the same collective bargaining
unit as nonsupervisory employees.
Background
The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) concluded in
previous decisions that sworn peace officer supervisory
employees employed by CSU whose duties are substantially similar
to those of their subordinates are eligible for full collective
bargaining rights under HEERA but that similar sworn peace
officer supervisory employees employed by UC and Hastings do not
have duties that are substantially similar to those of their
subordinates and thus have limited collective bargaining rights
under HEERA. This bill gives clear statutory authority to
provide full collective bargaining rights to these UC and
Hastings employees.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 765 (Block, 2013) would have permitted a school district
(including a community college district) supervisory peace
officer to join or participate in an employee organization and
negotiating unit composed of exclusively supervisory peace
officers or both supervisory and non-supervisory peace officers.
Governor Brown vetoed this bill because "allowing school police
officer supervisors to join rank and file bargaining units
creates opportunity for conflict of interest between supervisors
and employees."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
SUPPORT:
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council (source)
California Federation of Teachers
OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California Teamsters
Public Affairs Council, "the treatment of police sergeants under
SB 686 (Pan) Page 4 of ?
HEERA is quite conflicted. The sergeants who work for CSU are
not designated as supervisors even though they perform identical
duties to UC police sergeants. Under an old PERB decision, UC
police officers are so designated. While we don't seek to
change the treatment of the sergeants at CSU, we do think, as a
matter of basic equity, UC police sergeants should have the same
rights as their brethren who do the same work at CSU."
The California Federation of Teachers states that "SB 686
remedies this inequity, providing safeguards for ensuring no
conflict of interest between line officers and the 'supervisory
employees' covered by the measure."