Unions Help Successfully Resist School District Attempt To Invalidate San Francisco Merit System
In the case of San Francisco Unified School District v. City and County of San Francisco, the California Court of Appeal upheld the merit system of employment for City and School District employees in San Francisco established by Education Code section 45318. Various labor unions joined the City in successfully resisting the District’s claims that the merit system was unconstitutional. These unions helped defeat the District’s attack on the City’s 85-year-old unified civil service system.
City and District employees are in the same, unified merit system where District employees can displace City employees and vice versa in “a two-way street.” At issue were City-initiated layoffs impacting the School District in 2009 and 2010.
The District claimed that the transfer of management and control of the schools from the District to the City Civil Service Commission (which is not part of the school system) violates the section of the California Constitution that prohibits outside agencies from exercising authority over schools.
The court disagreed that the City Civil Service Commission’s classification and layoff of District employees transfers ultimate control of the schools from the District to the Commission. Instead, the court stated that personnel functions may be delegated to entities outside the public school system provided that ultimate control remains in the system. The court also was persuaded by the unions’ argument that employee status and collective bargaining agreements have been premised on the shared personnel system. This decision indicates the power that unions can have in persuading courts to maintain the integrity of the civil service system and public sector labor-management agreements.
Author: Russell Naymark
