PERB finds Riverside County unlawfully denied a unit modification petition for a second time in two years
The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) denied Riverside County's second attempt to block the addition of unrepresented employees into three existing bargaining units. At the time the union filed its “accretion” petition—an accretion is the addition of employees to an established bargaining unit without first holding an election—it did not make a showing that the petitioned-for Temporary Assignment Program (TAP) assistants desired union representation or inclusion in an existing bargaining unit. The County denied the union's petition, stating that the County required a showing of majority support of the TAP assistants before it would accrete them.
PERB ruled that the County’s local rules, which provide for modification of bargaining units, do not require majority support of the unrepresented employees. PERB also held due process requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution do not prohibit the County from accreting unrepresented employees into an existing bargaining unit without a vote. PERB directed the County to process the union's petitions in accordance with its own rules.
Attorney Alan Crowley of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld represented the union in this case.
Author: Russell Naymark
