Opinion ID: 2518407
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The PERB

Text: The history of the PERB begins in 1975, when the Legislature adopted the Educational Employment Relations Act (Gov. Code, §§ 3540-3549.3; hereafter the EERA), which governs employer-employee relations for public schools (kindergarten through high school) and community colleges. (Stats.1975, ch. 961, § 2, pp. 2247-2263.) As part of this new statutory scheme, the Legislature created the Educational Employment Relations Board (EERB), an expert, quasi-judicial administrative agency modeled after the National Labor Relations Board, to enforce the act. ( Pacific Legal Foundation v. Brown (1981) 29 Cal.3d 168, 177, 172 Cal. Rptr. 487, 624 P.2d 1215.) The Legislature vested the EERB with authority to adjudicate unfair labor practice charges under the EERA. (See Stats.1975, ch. 961, § 2, pp. 2249-2252.) The Legislature structured the EERA with the intention that it would eventually be expanded to incorporate other public employees. Thus, the EERA contains a declaration of purpose that includes this paragraph: It is the further intention of the Legislature that any legislation enacted by the Legislature governing employer-employee relations of other public employees shall be incorporated into this chapter to the extent possible. The Legislature also finds and declares that it is an advantageous and desirable state policy to expand the jurisdiction of the board created pursuant to this chapter to cover other public employers and their employees, in the event that this legislation is enacted, and if this policy is carried out, the name of the Educational Employment Relations Board shall be changed to the `Public Employment Relations Board.' (Gov.Code, § 3540.) [5] Two years later, in 1977, the Legislature enacted the State Employer-Employee Relations Act (Gov.Code, §§ 3512-3524) to govern relations between the state government and certain of its employees. (Stats. 1977, ch. 1159, § 4, pp. 3751-3760.) It was later renamed, and its official name is now the Ralph C. Dills Act (hereafter the Dills Act). (Stats.1986, ch. 103, § 1, p. 237.) Despite the declaration of purpose two years earlier in the EERA, the Legislature did not incorporate the Dills Act into the EERA, instead enacting it as a separate chapter in the Government Code preceding the EERA. The Legislature did, however, expand the jurisdiction of the EERB to include adjudication of unfair practice charges under the Dills Act, and as a result the EERB was renamed the PERB. (See Gov.Code, §§ 3513, subd. (h), 3514.5, as added by Stats.1977, ch. 1159, §§ 6-7, pp. 3761-3763.) Since 1977, the PERB's jurisdiction has continued to expand as the Legislature has enacted new employment relations laws covering additional categories of public agencies and their employees. In 1978, the Legislature enacted the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (Gov.Code, §§ 3560-3599; hereafter the HEERA) to govern labor relations within the University of California, the California State University, and Hastings College of the Law. (Stats.1978, ch. 744, § 3, pp. 2312-2333.) In 2000, the Legislature not only brought the MMBA within the PERB's jurisdiction (Stats.2000, ch. 901, § 8), it also enacted the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act (Gov.Code, §§ 71600-71675; hereafter the TCEPGA) to govern labor relations and other employment matters within the state's trial courts. (Stats.2000, ch. 1010, § 14.) In 2002, the Legislature enacted the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act (Gov.Code, §§ 71800-71829; hereafter the TCIERA) to govern labor relations and employment matters for trial court interpreters. (Stats.2002, ch. 1047, § 2.) In 2003, the Legislature enacted the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act (Pub. Util.Code, §§ 99560-99570.4; hereafter the TERA) to govern labor relations for a public transit district. (Stats. 2003, ch. 833, § 1.) In enacting the HEERA, the TCEPGA, the TCIERA, and the TERA, the Legislature followed the pattern set by the Dills Act. It did not incorporate the new laws' substantive provisions into the EERA; instead, it enacted the HEERA, the TCEPGA, and the TCIERA as separate chapters within the Government Code and the TERA as a chapter within the Public Utilities Code. But the Legislature expanded the PERB's jurisdiction to cover unfair labor practices alleged under each of these labor relations laws. (Gov.Code, §§ 3563, 71639.1, 71825; Pub. Util.Code, § 99561.) In each of these six public employment relations lawsthe Dills Act, the EERA, the HEERA, the TCEPGA, the TCIERA, and the TERAthe Legislature has expressly and separately specified a six-month limitations period for filing unfair practice charges with the PERB. [6] (Gov. Code, §§ 3514.5, subd. (a), 3541.5, subd. (a), 3563.2, subd. (a), 71639.1, subd. (c), 71825, subd. (c); Pub. Util.Code, § 99561.2, subd. (a).) Thus, the EERA provides: Any employee, employee organization, or employer shall have the right to file an unfair practice charge, except that the board shall not ... [¶] ... [i]ssue a complaint in respect of any charge based upon an alleged unfair practice occurring more than six months prior to the filing of the charge. (Gov.Code, § 3541.5, subd. (a).) [7] The other provisions express the six-month limitations period in identical words. [8]