“You May Enter”: PERB expands non-employee organizers' access rights to public employer property under MMBA
Union representatives have the right to access public employer property, subject to reasonable regulation by the public employer. So ruled the California Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”) in the groundbreaking case County of Riverside (2012) PERB Dec. No. 2233-M. County of Riverside clarified and established the access rights of unions (“employee organizations”) under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“MMBA”), the public-sector labor law that applies to local governments. If you organize at the County or City level, this PERB decision will help you reach out to employees at their worksite.
In this case, PERB broadened the right of access in two important ways. First, County of Riverside ruled that the right of access does not depend on the employee status of the union representative. This means that an employee-organizer who works for the public employer and a non-employee organizer who solely works for a union enjoy the same right of access. Non-employee organizers now have the right to access public employees at the worksite. Second, County of Riverside also ruled that “employee organizations” and “recognized employee organizations” have the same right of access. An “employee organization” is a union that seeks to represent public employees; a “recognized employee organization,” on the other hand, is a public-employee union that is legally recognized by the public employer as the bargaining representative of public employees. What this means in practice is that unions seeking to organize public employees now have the right to communicate with public employees at their worksite.
The union's right of access, however, is subject to the employer's reasonable regulation. An employer's regulation of the union's access rights is “reasonable” only if two things are true. First, the regulation must be necessary to the employer's efficient operations and/or safety of employees or others. And second, the regulation must be narrowly drawn. This is not an easy standard to meet.
Author: Sean D. Graham
