LOS ANGELES v. LOS ANGELES COUNTY EMPLOYEE RELATIONS COMMISSION
This case implicates the privacy rights of Los Angeles County employees who are not Union members and their ability to control the dissemination of their personal information to the Service Employees International Union, Local 721 (the Union), which has a statutory duty to represent even these non-member County employees. The County of Los Angeles, Chief Executive Office, appeals from the denial of its petition for writ of administrative mandamus (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5), in which it asserted the privacy rights of these non-member County employees and challenged the decision by the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission (Commission) that ordered the County to release their names, home addresses, and home telephone numbers to the Union.
The trial court concluded the Commission erred by applying the traditional labor law presumption in favor of disclosure. Nevertheless, the trial court upheld the Commission's decision to disclose the non-members' personal information under California privacy law, applying the balancing test set forth in Hill v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1, 39-40 (Hill). The trial court, however, ordered disclosure of the non-members' personal information without due consideration to procedural protections afforded to third parties whose privacy rights are at stake. (See Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. v. Superior Court (2007) 40 Cal.4th 360, 371-372 (Pioneer Electronics).)
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