This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Meyers-Milias-Brown Act.”

As used in this chapter:

As used in this chapter, “public agency” does not mean a superior court.

Except as otherwise provided by the Legislature, public employees shall have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Public employees also shall have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations and shall have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the public agency.

No public employee shall be subject to punitive action or denied promotion, or threatened with any such treatment, for the exercise of lawful action as an elected, appointed, or recognized representative of any employee bargaining unit.

for a bargaining unit shall be entitled to

make a presentation at

the public hearing at which the public agency presents the status of vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts for positions within that bargaining unit.

this section or its application is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

election that may not be held more frequently than once a year shall be conducted by the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service in the event that the public agency and the recognized employee organization cannot agree within 10 days from the filing of the petition to select jointly a neutral person or entity to conduct the election. In the event of an agency fee arrangement outside of an agreement that is in effect, the recognized employee organization shall indemnify and hold the public agency harmless against any liability arising from a claim, demand, or other action relating to the public agency’s compliance with the agency fee obligation.

employment. The employee may be required, in lieu of periodic dues, initiation fees, or agency shop fees, to pay sums equal to the dues, initiation fees, or agency shop fees to a nonreligious, nonlabor charitable fund exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, chosen by the employee from a list of at least three of these funds, designated in a memorandum of understanding between the public agency and the public employee organization, or if the memorandum of understanding fails to designate the funds, then to a fund of that type chosen by the employee. Proof of the payments shall be made on a monthly basis to the public agency as a condition of continued exemption from the requirement of financial support to the public employee organization.

of understanding, provided that:

party to an agency shop arrangement shall keep an adequate itemized record of its financial transactions and shall make available annually, to the public agency with which the agency shop provision was negotiated, and to the employees who are members of the organization, within 60 days after the end of its fiscal year, a detailed written financial report thereof in the form of a balance sheet and an operating statement, certified as to accuracy by its president and treasurer or corresponding principal officer, or by a certified public accountant. An employee organization required to file financial reports under the federal Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 401 et seq.) covering employees governed by this chapter, or required to file financial reports under Section 3546.5, may satisfy the financial reporting requirement of this section by providing the public agency with a copy of the financial reports.

Recognized employee organizations shall have the right to represent their members in their employment relations with public agencies. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of individuals from membership. Nothing in this section shall prohibit any employee from appearing in his own behalf in his employment relations with the public agency.

If an employee covered by Chapter 9.6 (commencing with Section 3250) holds a conscientious objection described in subdivision (c) of Section 3502.5 or declines membership in the recognized employee organization and requests individual representation in a discipline, grievance, arbitration, or administrative hearing from the recognized employee organization, the recognized employee organization may charge the employee for the reasonable cost of the representation. This section applies only to the above proceedings where the recognized employee organization does not exclusively control the process.

If an employee covered by Chapter 9.7 (commencing with Section 3300) holds a conscientious objection described in subdivision (c) of Section 3502.5 or declines membership in the recognized employee organization and requests individual representation in a discipline, grievance, arbitration, or administrative hearing from the recognized employee organization, the recognized employee organization may charge the employee for the reasonable cost of the representation. This section applies only to the above proceedings where the recognized employee organization does not exclusively control the process.

The scope of representation shall include all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations, including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except, however, that the scope of representation shall not include consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law or executive order.

(a), the public agency shall provide as much advance notice as is practicable under the circumstances.

demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work.

exempts contracts from the notice, meet and confer, or other requirements of applicable laws, including this chapter.

The governing body of a public agency, or such boards, commissions, administrative officers or other representatives as may be properly designated by law or by such governing body, shall meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of such recognized employee organizations, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 3501, and shall consider fully such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.

“Meet and confer in good faith” means that a public agency, or such representatives as it may designate, and representatives of recognized employee organizations, shall have the mutual obligation personally to meet and confer promptly upon request by either party and continue for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation prior to the adoption by the public agency of its final budget for the ensuing year. The process should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses where specific procedures for such resolution are contained in local rule, regulation, or ordinance, or when such procedures are utilized by mutual consent.

If a tentative agreement is reached by the authorized representatives of the public agency and a recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations, the governing body shall vote to accept or reject the tentative agreement within 30 days of the date it is first considered at a duly noticed public meeting. A decision by the governing body to reject the tentative agreement shall not bar the filing of a charge of unfair practice for failure to meet and confer in good faith. If the governing body adopts the tentative agreement, the parties shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding.

If after a reasonable period of time, representatives of the public agency and the recognized employee organization fail to reach agreement, the public agency and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations together may agree upon the appointment of a mediator mutually agreeable to the parties. Costs of mediation shall be divided one-half to the public agency and one-half to the recognized employee organization or recognized employee organizations.

organization against the public agency or by the public agency against the employee organization.

pursuant to the parties’ agreement to mediate or a mediation process required by a public agency’s local rules. If the dispute was not submitted to mediation, an employee organization may request that the parties’ differences be submitted to a factfinding panel not later than 30 days following the date that either party provided the other with a written notice of a declaration of impasse. Within five days after receipt of the written request, each party shall select a person to serve as its member of the factfinding panel. The Public Employment Relations Board shall, within five days after the selection of panel members by the parties, select a chairperson of the factfinding panel.

selected by the board.

comparable public agencies.

shall be equally divided between the parties.

member selected by each party shall be borne by that party.

After any applicable mediation and factfinding procedures have been exhausted, but no earlier than 15 days after the factfinders’ written findings of fact and recommended terms of settlement have been submitted to the parties pursuant to Section 3505.5, a public agency that is not required to proceed to interest arbitration may, after holding a public hearing regarding the impasse, implement its last, best, and final offer, but shall not implement a memorandum of understanding. The unilateral implementation of a public agency’s last, best, and final offer shall not deprive a recognized employee organization of the right each year to meet and confer on matters within the scope of representation, whether or not those matters are included in the unilateral implementation, prior to the adoption by the public agency of its annual budget, or as otherwise

required by law.

An arbitration agreement contained in a memorandum of understanding entered into under this chapter shall be enforceable in an action brought pursuant to Title 9 (commencing with Section 1280) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure. An assertion that the arbitration claim is untimely or otherwise barred because the party seeking arbitration has failed to satisfy the procedural prerequisites to arbitration shall not be a basis for refusing to submit the dispute to arbitration. All procedural defenses shall be presented to the arbitrator for resolution. A court shall not refuse to order arbitration because a party to the memorandum of understanding contends that the conduct in question arguably constitutes an unfair practice subject to the jurisdiction of the board. If a party to a

memorandum of understanding files an unfair practice charge based on such conduct, the board shall place the charge in abeyance if the dispute is subject to final and binding arbitration pursuant to the memorandum of understanding, and shall dismiss the charge at the conclusion of the arbitration process unless the charging party demonstrates that the settlement or arbitration award is repugnant to the purposes of this chapter.

Public agencies and employee organizations shall not interfere with, intimidate, restrain, coerce or discriminate against public employees because of their exercise of their rights under Section 3502.

A public agency shall not do any of the following:

in good faith with a recognized employee organization. For purposes of this subdivision, knowingly providing a recognized employee organization with inaccurate information regarding the financial resources of the public employer, whether or not in response to a request for information, constitutes a refusal or failure to meet and negotiate in good faith.

The rules and regulations may include provisions for all of the following:

majority recognition to an employee organization based on a signed petition, authorization cards, or union membership cards showing that a majority of the employees in an appropriate bargaining unit desire the representation, unless another labor organization has previously been lawfully recognized as exclusive or majority representative of all or part of the same unit. Exclusive or majority representation shall be determined by a neutral third party selected by the public agency and the employee organization who shall review the signed petition, authorization cards, or union membership cards to verify the exclusive or majority status of the employee organization. In the event the public agency and the employee organization cannot agree on a neutral third party, the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service shall be the neutral third party and shall verify the exclusive or majority status of the employee organization. In the event that the neutral third party determines, based on a signed petition,

authorization cards, or union membership cards, that a second labor organization has the support of at least 30 percent of the employees in the unit in which recognition is sought, the neutral third party shall order an election to establish which labor organization, if any, has majority status.

Professional employees shall not be denied the right to be represented separately from nonprofessional employees by a professional employee organization consisting of those professional employees. In the event of a dispute on the appropriateness of a unit of representation for professional employees, upon request of any of the parties, the dispute shall be submitted to the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service for mediation or for recommendation for resolving the dispute.

“Professional employees,” for the purposes of this section, means employees engaged in work requiring specialized knowledge and skills attained through completion of a recognized course of instruction, including, but not limited to, attorneys,

physicians, registered nurses, engineers, architects, teachers, and the various types of physical, chemical, and biological scientists.

In addition to those rules and regulations a public agency may adopt pursuant to and in the same manner as in Section 3507, any such agency may adopt reasonable rules and regulations providing for designation of the management and confidential employees of the public agency and restricting such employees from representing any employee organization, which represents other employees of the public agency, on matters within the scope of representation. Except as specifically provided otherwise in this chapter, this section does not otherwise limit the right of employees to be members of and to hold office in an employee organization.

(B) “Temporary employee” shall not include an employee employed by a temporary services employer as defined in Section 201.3 of the Labor Code.

Section 3509, from determining that a public employer is or is not the single or joint employer for collective bargaining purposes of employees of a temporary services employer or from including or excluding such employees from bargaining units based on the standards that were in effect prior to the adoption of this section, nor shall any provision of this section serve as the legal or other basis or support for any such determination.

the public employer, the following apply:

information shall be provided to the recognized employee organization, within five business days of hiring the temporary employee.

time spent in temporary employment shall be a matter within the scope of representation in bargaining units that include permanent employees.

a memorandum of understanding entered into after the effective date of this section.

unfair practice charges pursuant to Section 3509.

temporary employees hired pursuant to a written agreement between a public employer and a labor organization that primarily represents employees in the building and construction trades.

For the purposes of this section, the term “police employee” includes the civilian employees of the police department of any city. Police employee does not include any public safety officer within the meaning of Section 3301.

appropriate remedy necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter, shall be a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the board, except that in an action to recover damages due to an unlawful strike, the board shall have no authority to award strike-preparation expenses as damages, and shall have no authority to award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike. The board shall apply and interpret unfair labor practices consistent with existing judicial interpretations of this chapter.

relations commissions established by, and in effect for, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles pursuant to Section 3507 shall have the power and responsibility to take

actions on recognition, unit determinations, elections, and all unfair practices, and to issue determinations and orders as the employee relations commissions deem necessary, consistent with and pursuant to the policies of this chapter.

(A) Award strike-preparation expenses as damages.

(B) Award damages for costs, expenses, or revenue losses incurred during, or as a consequence of, an unlawful strike.

to restrict or expand the board’s jurisdiction or authority as set forth in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive.

Notwithstanding any other law, if a decision by an administrative law judge regarding the recognition or certification of an employee organization is appealed, the decision shall be deemed the final order of the board if the board does not issue a ruling that supersedes the decision on or before 180 days after the appeal is filed.

The changes made to Sections 3501, 3507.1, and 3509 of the Government Code by legislation enacted during the 1999–2000 Regular Session of the Legislature shall not apply to persons who are peace officers as defined in Section 830.1 of the Penal Code.