No Duty To Provide Information Absent Request

City of Los Altos (PERB Dec. No. 1891M) (Issued 3/14/07)

Union alleged that City had an affirmative obligation to notice the union whenever the City terminated a bargaining unit member, even where the employee had not requested union representation and where the union had not specifically requested the information. The Board held that under well-established precedent, there is no obligation to provide the union information absent a request. Since there was no request, the Board dismissed the charge.

The board also stated that even if the union had requested information about an employee termination, absent consent by the employee, compliance with such a request would have to take into consideration the employee’s privacy rights. This seems like a straight forward and common sense decision.

DFR Dismissal Adopted

California Faculty Association (Wunder) (PERB Dec. No. 1889H) (Issued 3/1/07)

Employee alleged that the union violated its duty of fair representation by failing to take her grievance to arbitration. This is one of the rarer instances where a complaint actually issues on a DFR charge. In the proposed decision, the ALJ applied well-settled standards and found that the union’s decision not to advance the grievance to arbitration was honest and reasonable.