Contributors

Christian Scali

Founder and Managing Shareholder

Halbert B. Rasmussen

Shareholder

Eric P. Weiss

Principal

Jasmin B. Bhandari

Principal

Jennifer Woo Burns

Of Counsel

As with private employees, California has passed legislation that provides certain protections for employees of public entities.

SB 885—Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement: Public employees’ retirement

What the law currently requires

1. Existing law, the Public Employees’ Retirement Law (“PERL”), creates the Public Employees’ Retirement System (“PERS”) for the purpose of providing pension benefits to state employees and employees of contracting agencies and prescribes the rights and duties of members of the system and their beneficiaries. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system’s board of administration. Existing law vests management and control of PERS in its board of administration. PERS provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations.
2. Existing law permits the board to charge interest on payments due and unpaid by a contracting agency at the greater of the annual return on the system’s investments for the year prior to the year in which payments are not timely made or a simple annual rate of 10%.
3. Existing law authorizes a member of PERS, who is credited with less than a certain number of years of service and who enters employment as a member of another public retirement system supported by state funds, within 6 months of leaving state service, to elect to leave their accumulated contributions on deposit in the retirement fund. Existing law specifies that a member’s failure to make an election to withdraw accumulated contributions is deemed an election to leave the member’s accumulated contributions on deposit in the retirement fund. Existing law provides that a member may revoke their election to allow accumulated contributions to remain in the retirement system, except under specified circumstances. Existing law requires a member who is permanently separated from all PERS covered service, who meets specified conditions, and who attains 71 1/2 years of age, to be provided with an election to withdraw contributions, or, if vested, an election to either apply for service retirement or to withdraw contributions.

How this bill changes the law

This bill would remove the board’s option to charge interest at the annual return on the system’s investments for the year prior in which payments are not timely made, and instead would require the board to charge interest at a simple annual rate of 10%.

This bill would instead require a member permanently separated under the circumstances described above to attain the age that is 1/2 of a year prior to the age specified by federal law before being provided with those election options.

AB 520—Employment: Public entities

What the law currently requires

Existing law establishes in the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the direction of the Labor Commissioner. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation.

Under existing law, any individual or business entity that contracts for services in the property services or long-term care industries is jointly and severally liable for any unpaid wages, including interest, where the individual or business entity has been provided notice, by any party, of any proceeding or investigation by the Labor Commissioner in which the employer is found liable for those unpaid wages, to the extent the amounts are for services performed under that contract, as provided, and except as specified.

How the bill changes the law

This bill would additionally provide that any public entity, defined as the state, a city, county, city and county, district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision or public corporation in the state, is jointly and severally liable for any unpaid wages, as provided in the above paragraph.

AB 1484—Temporary public employees

What the law currently requires

Existing law, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (“Act”), authorizes local public employees, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations (i.e. union) of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on matters of labor relations. Existing law generally requires that the scope of representation under the Act include all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations, while excepting the consideration of the merits, necessity, or organization of any service or activity provided by law or executive order. Existing law states that the Legislature finds and declares that the duties and responsibilities of local agency employer representatives under the Act are substantially similar to the duties and responsibilities required under existing collective bargaining enforcement procedures and therefore the costs incurred by the local agency employer representatives in performing those duties and responsibilities under that act are not reimbursable as state-mandated costs.

How the bill changes the law

This bill would impose specified requirements with respect to the temporary employees, as defined, of a public employer who have been hired to perform the same or similar type of work that is performed by permanent employees represented by a recognized employee organization. In this regard the bill would require those temporary employees to be automatically included in the same bargaining unit as the permanent employees, as specified, upon the request of the recognized employee organization. The bill would also require a public employer to, upon hire, provide each temporary employee with their job description, wage rates, and eligibility for benefits, anticipated length of employment, and procedures to apply for open, permanent positions. By imposing new duties on local agencies that employ temporary employees, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require complaints alleging a violation of its provisions to be processed as unfair practice charges under the Act. The bill would additionally include the same findings and declarations as set forth above.

In essence, the new bill allows temporary public employees to join labor unions.

AB 1—Collective bargaining: Legislature

What the current law requires

Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (“Dills Act”), governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified.

How the bill changes the law

This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, except certain specified categories of excluded 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.

AB 1273—Classified employees: Classified Employee Staffing Ratio Workgroup

What the law currently provides

Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to employ persons for positions not requiring certification qualifications and to classify those employees and positions, and requires that they be known as the classified service.

How the bill changes the law

This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the Department of Industrial Relations, the Labor Commissioner, and representatives of employee organizations, and representatives of voluntary local educational agencies, as defined, to convene the Classified Employee Staffing Ratio Workgroup on or before December 31, 2024. The bill would require the workgroup to group classified assignments in a manner that reflects the environmental setting of the assignment, the type of work to be completed, the impact on the assignment made by enrollment at a schoolsite, specialized needs, including certifications or licenses, and other reasonable factors, as specified, and to recommend staffing ratios per grouping, as specified.

The bill would require the workgroup to report its recommendations to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2025, as specified. The bill would require the workgroup to consult with the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges for existing guidance and, if applicable, to extrapolate from those guidelines in order to include classified employees at community colleges in the report, as provided.

SB 461—Days and hours of work: Religious or cultural observance

What the law currently provides

Existing law generally entitles a state employee to be given time off with pay for specified holidays and entitles a state employee to one personal holiday per fiscal year. Existing law authorizes the department head or designee to require the employee to provide 5 working days’ advance notice before a personal holiday is taken, to deny use subject to operational needs, and to provide by rule for the granting of the personal holiday for employees. Existing law authorizes a state employee to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for certain holidays in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, as specified.

How the bill changes the law

This bill would authorize an employee to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for observance of a holiday or ceremony of the state employee’s religion, culture, or heritage in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.