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SB-201 Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act: employees.(2017-2018)

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Date Published: 10/16/2017 02:00 PM
SB201:v96#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 201
CHAPTER 854

An act to amend Section 3562 of the Government Code, relating to higher education employees.

[ Approved by Governor  October 15, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State  October 15, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 201, Skinner. Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act: employees.
(1) Existing law, known as the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, contains provisions relating to employer-employee relations between the state and the employees of state institutions of higher education, including the University of California and the California State University, as well as the Hastings College of the Law. These provisions assign major responsibilities for implementation to the Public Employment Relations Board.
Under the act, an “employee” or “higher education employee” is defined as any employee of the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the California State University. The act authorizes the board to find student employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students are employees only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives, or that those educational objectives are subordinate to the services they perform and that coverage under this act would further the purposes of the act.
This bill would make student employees, whose employment is contingent upon their status as students, “employees” and “higher education employees” for purposes of the act.
(2) The act grants employees 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 and for the purpose of meeting and conferring with their employer. Under the act, all matters not within the scope of representation are reserved to the employer and are not subject to meeting and conferring. The act excludes from the scope of representation, for purposes of the University of California only, among other things, conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students.
This bill would specify that, for purposes of the University of California only, the requirements for students to achieve satisfactory progress toward their degrees are also outside of the scope of representation.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) A majority of student employees employed by the University of California, the Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University have been granted the opportunity for collective bargaining under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA).
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to expand the definition of employee under HEERA to include certain student employees who previously had been denied collective bargaining rights.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to maintain collective bargaining rights for those student employees who currently have those rights.

SEC. 2.

 Section 3562 of the Government Code is amended to read:

3562.
 As used in this chapter:
(a) “Arbitration” means a method of resolving a rights dispute under which the parties to a controversy must accept the award of a third party.
(b) “Board” means the Public Employment Relations Board established pursuant to Section 3513.
(c) “Certified organization” means an employee organization that has been certified by the board as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit after a proceeding under Article 5 (commencing with Section 3573).
(d) “Confidential employee” means any employee who is required to develop or present management positions with respect to meeting and conferring or whose duties normally require access to confidential information which contributes significantly to the development of those management positions.
(e) “Employee” or “higher education employee” means any employee, including student employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students, of the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the California State University. However, managerial and confidential employees and employees whose principal place of employment is outside the State of California at a worksite with 100 or fewer employees shall be excluded from coverage under this chapter.
(f) (1) “Employee organization” means any organization of any kind in which higher education employees participate and that exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with higher education employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment of employees. An organization that represents one or more employees whose principal worksite is located outside the State of California is an employee organization only if it has filed with the board and with the employer a statement agreeing, in consideration of obtaining the benefits of status as an employee organization pursuant to this chapter, to submit to the jurisdiction of the board. The board shall promulgate the form of the statement.
(2) “Employee organization” shall also include any person that an employee organization authorizes to act on its behalf. An academic senate, or other similar academic bodies, or divisions thereof, shall not be considered employee organizations for the purposes of this chapter.
(g) “Employer” or “higher education employer” means the regents in the case of the University of California, the directors in the case of the Hastings College of the Law, and the trustees in the case of the California State University, including any person acting as an agent of an employer.
(h) “Employer representative” means any person or persons authorized to act on behalf of the employer.
(i) “Exclusive representative” means any recognized or certified employee organization or person it authorizes to act on its behalf.
(j) “Impasse” means that the parties have reached a point in meeting and conferring at which their differences in positions are such that further meetings would be futile.
(k) “Managerial employee” means any employee having significant responsibilities for formulating or administering policies and programs. No employee or group of employees shall be deemed to be managerial employees solely because the employee or group of employees participates in decisions with respect to courses, curriculum, personnel, and other matters of educational policy. A department chair or head of a similar academic unit or program who performs the foregoing duties primarily on behalf of the members of the academic unit or program shall not be deemed a managerial employee solely because of those duties.
(l) “Mediation” means the efforts of a third person, or persons, functioning as intermediaries, to assist the parties in reaching a voluntary resolution to an impasse.
(m) “Meet and confer” means the performance of the mutual obligation of the higher education employer and the exclusive representative of its employees to meet at reasonable times and to confer in good faith with respect to matters within the scope of representation and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation. The process shall include adequate time for the resolution of impasses. If agreement is reached between representatives of the higher education employer and the exclusive representative, they shall jointly prepare a written memorandum of the understanding, which shall be presented to the higher education employer for concurrence. However, these obligations shall not compel either party to agree to any proposal or require the making of a concession.
(n) “Person” means one or more individuals, organizations, associations, corporations, boards, committees, commissions, agencies, or their representatives.
(o) “Professional employee” means:
(1) Any employee engaged in work: (A) predominantly intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work; (B) involving the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance; (C) of a character so that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time; and (D) requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study in an institution of higher learning or a hospital, as distinguished from a general academic education or from an apprenticeship or from training in the performance of routine mental, manual, or physical processes.
(2) Any employee who: (A) has completed the courses of specialized intellectual instruction and study described in subparagraph (D) of paragraph (1), and (B) is performing related work under the supervision of a professional person to qualify himself or herself to become a professional employee as defined in paragraph (1).
(p) “Recognized organization” means an employee organization that has been recognized by an employer as the exclusive representative of the employees in an appropriate unit pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 3573).
(q) (1) For purposes of the University of California only, “scope of representation” means, and is limited to, wages, hours of employment, and other terms and conditions of employment. The scope of representation shall not include any of the following:
(A) Consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service, activity, or program established by law or resolution of the regents or the directors, except for the terms and conditions of employment of employees who may be affected thereby.
(B) The amount of any fees that are not a term or condition of employment.
(C) Admission requirements for students, conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students, which include what is required for students to achieve satisfactory progress toward their degrees, and the content and supervision of courses, curricula, and research programs, as those terms are intended by the standing orders of the regents or the directors.
(D) Procedures and policies to be used for the appointment, promotion, and tenure of members of the academic senate, the procedures to be used for the evaluation of the members of the academic senate, and the procedures for processing grievances of members of the academic senate. The exclusive representative of members of the academic senate shall have the right to consult and be consulted on matters excluded from the scope of representation pursuant to this subparagraph. If the academic senate determines that any matter in this subparagraph should be within the scope of representation, or if any matter in this subparagraph is withdrawn from the responsibility of the academic senate, the matter shall be within the scope of representation.
(2) All matters not within the scope of representation are reserved to the employer and may not be subject to meeting and conferring, provided that nothing herein may be construed to limit the right of the employer to consult with any employees or employee organization on any matter outside the scope of representation.
(r) (1) For purposes of the California State University only, “scope of representation” means, and is limited to, wages, hours of employment, and other terms and conditions of employment. The scope of representation shall not include:
(A) Consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service, activity, or program established by statute or regulations adopted by the trustees, except for the terms and conditions of employment of employees who may be affected thereby.
(B) The amount of any student fees that are not a term or condition of employment.
(C) Admission requirements for students, conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students, and the content and conduct of courses, curricula, and research programs.
(D) Criteria and standards to be used for the appointment, promotion, evaluation, and tenure of academic employees, which shall be the joint responsibility of the academic senate and the trustees. The exclusive representative shall have the right to consult and be consulted on matters excluded from the scope of representation pursuant to this subparagraph. If the trustees withdraw any matter in this subparagraph from the responsibility of the academic senate, the matter shall be within the scope of representation.
(E) The amount of rental rates for housing charged to California State University employees.
(2) All matters not within the scope of representation are reserved to the employer, and may not be subject to meeting and conferring, provided that nothing herein may be construed to limit the right of the employer to consult with any employees or employee organization on any matter outside the scope of representation.