BILL ANALYSIS
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Anthony Portantino, Chair
ACR 55 (Torlakson) - As Introduced: April 1, 2009
SUBJECT : University of California: workplace bullying:
supervisor training.
SUMMARY : Urges the University of California (UC) to provide
initial and ongoing training and education to all supervisory
employees regarding workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment.
Specifically, this resolution :
1)Generally finds and declares:
a) The well-being of the state is dependent upon healthy
and productive employees;
b) Surveys show between 16% and 21% of employees experience
workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment;
c) Studies have documented that abusive work environments
can have serious consequences for employees and employers;
and,
d) Existing law is inadequate to address employee bullying,
abuse, and harassment.
2)Urges UC to do all of the following:
a) Provide two hours of workplace bullying, abuse, and
harassment training and education to all of its supervisory
employees by January 1, 2010, and again every two years;
b) Incorporate the workplace bullying, abuse, and
harassment training and education into the 80 hours of
training provided to all new supervisory employees,
pursuant to existing law regarding state worker supervisory
training programs;
c) Include practical examples in the training that are
aimed at instructing supervisors in the prevention of
workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment; and,
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d) Ensure the training is presented by trainers or
educators with knowledge and expertise in the prevention of
workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment.
EXISTING LAW establishes UC as a public trust and confers upon
the Regents of the UC the full powers of its organization and
government, subject only to legislative controls that may be
necessary to ensure the security of its funds and compliance
with the terms of its endowments.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Purpose of this resolution : According to the
author, this bill is designed to encourage UC to adopt a policy
regarding workplace bullying, abuse, and harassment similar to
the sexual harassment policies that most government agencies
developed in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The author
believes that the development of such a policy will help
supervisors better understand what constitutes bullying, abuse,
and harassment and how to prevent these activities from
occurring.
Constitutionally allowable legislative controls over UC : As
noted above, the California Constitution (Section 9 of Article
IX) establishes UC as a public trust and confers the full powers
of the UC upon the UC Regents. The Constitution establishes
that UC is subject to legislative control only to the degree
necessary to ensure the security of its funds and compliance
with the terms of its endowments. Judicial decisions have held
that there are three additional areas in which there may be
limited legislative intrusion into university operations:
authority over the appropriation of state moneys; exercise of
the general police power to provide for the public health,
safety and welfare; and legislation on matters of general
statewide concern not involving internal university affairs.
The author notes that because of the limits of legislative power
over UC, the author hopes that this resolution will prompt the
UC to consider the adoption of a policy that ensures the
training of supervisors on the issues of bullying, abuse, and
harassment.
Existing UC policy on workplace abuse : While individual UC
campuses have established policies to address workplace violence
prevention, there does not appear to be consistency among these
individual campus policies or a specific requirement for
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training regarding bullying, abuse, and harassment for
supervisors. Additionally, there does not appear to be a
systemwide policy regarding bullying, abuse, and harassment
training for supervisors.
Suggested amendment : The author should consider adjusting the
date by which UC is requested to provide training to all
supervisory employees from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011.
Arguments in support : The University Professional and Technical
Employees-Communications Workers of America Local 9119
(UPTE-CWA) writes in support of this legislation that "more than
a few of our members have experienced bullying by lower and
middle level supervisors, especially those that participate in
our bargaining unit." UPTE-CWA states that "these incidents can
be as simple as not speaking to certain of those who the person
supervises, to as egregious as threatening to fire someone for
participating in a grievance procedure." UPTE-CWA believes that
a UC written procedure to train management on ways to avoid
bullying, abuse, and harassment will reduce workplace problems
similar to the ways that sexual harassment prevention training
has improved the workplace environment.
Previous legislation : AB 1582 (Koretz) of 2003, which was not
heard in committee, would have made it unlawful to subject an
employee to an abusive work environment.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
University Professional and Technical Employees, CWA Local 9119
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960