Public employment: notifications and right of intervention.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's status as 'ordered to inactive file' suggests it may not become law, but this is contingent on further actions that are not specified here.

Public Employment: Notifications and Right of Intervention

This law requires people who sue public workers over labor actions like strikes to inform PERB, and it lets PERB join lawsuits about these issues.

What This Bill Does

• Requires someone suing public workers over labor actions (like strikes) to send PERB an email with their lawsuit details if PERB is not already part of the case.
• Allows PERB to join lawsuits involving public employees' labor disputes when it thinks the case affects laws PERB oversees.
• Tells courts to set up a system where appeals court justices can handle cases about stopping strikes or work stoppages by trial court workers.

Who It Names or Affects

• Public employers and employees involved in collective bargaining under PERB's jurisdiction.
• People who sue public workers over labor actions like strikes.
• PERB (Public Employment Relations Board).

Terms To Know

PERB

Public Employment Relations Board, a state agency that handles disputes between public employers and employees.

Injunction

A court order that stops someone from doing something or forces them to do something.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if PERB is not notified as required.
• It's unclear how this will affect existing labor laws and regulations.
• The bill was ordered to an inactive file, so it may not become law.

Official Summary Text

AB 672, as amended, Caloza.
Public employment: notifications and right of intervention.
(1) Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of specified public employers and employees under various acts regulating collective bargaining. Under existing law, PERB has the power and duty to investigate an unfair practice charge and to determine whether the charge is justified and the appropriate remedy for the unfair practice.
This bill would require a plaintiff or petitioner filing a civil action seeking injunctive relief against a strike, work stoppage, or other labor action by public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB, if PERB is not a party to the action, to serve a copy of the petition or complaint by electronic mail on the
general counsel of PERB, in accordance with certain procedures. The bill would also require a plaintiff or petitioner that intends to apply to a superior court for a temporary restraining order to enjoin a strike, work stoppage, or other labor action by public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB, if PERB is not a party to the action, to give notice by electronic mail to the general counsel of PERB of the application when the plaintiff or petitioner provides that notice to the defendant or respondent.
The bill would specify that the above-described provisions do not authorize a plaintiff or petitioner to seek relief in court without first exhausting administrative remedies before PERB when exhaustion is required by statute, regulation, or case law.
(2)
This
This
bill would grant PERB the right, upon timely application, to intervene in a civil action arising from a labor dispute that involves public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB and that PERB claims implicate the constitutionality, interpretation, or enforcement of a statute administered by PERB.
Existing
(2) Existing
law, the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, establishes procedures regulating, among other matters,
court employee classification and compensation, labor relations, and employment protection. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court that provide a mechanism for the establishment of a panel of court of appeal justices who are qualified to hear certain petitions relating to arbitration and writ applications and from which a single justice is required to be assigned to hear the matter in the superior court, as prescribed.
This bill would require the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court that provide a mechanism for the establishment of a panel of court of appeal justices who would be qualified to hear actions that seek to enjoin strikes, work stoppages, or other labor activity by trial court employees, from which a single justice would be assigned to hear the matter in the superior court in accordance with certain procedures.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF