INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS v. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD
Facing a budget crisis, the City of Richmond decided to lay off 18 of its firefighter employees. The firefighters' union tried to negotiate with the city to avert the layoffs, but the city refused to bargain over its layoff decision. The union turned to the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), the state agency charged with enforcing state labor laws affecting local government employees. PERB would not issue a complaint, however, because it concluded that the city's refusal to bargain had not violated state law. The union then brought an action in superior court, but that court agreed with PERB that no unfair labor practice had occurred. On the union's appeal, the Court of Appeal affirmed the superior court's judgment.
Here, we address two issues: (1) If, after receiving an unfair labor practice charge, PERB decides not to issue a complaint, is that decision ever subject to judicial review? (2) Is a city's decision to lay off firefighters for fiscal reasons a matter that is subject to collective bargaining?
On the first question, we agree with the Court of Appeal that although PERB's refusal to issue a complaint is generally not subject to judicial review, this general rule has narrow exceptions. One of these exception applies when, as the union alleges here, PERB's refusal is based on a clearly erroneous statutory construction.
On the second question, we conclude, as did the Court of Appeal, that when a city, faced with a budget deficit, decides that some firefighters must be laid off as a cost-saving measure, the city is not required to meet and confer with the firefighters' authorized employee representative before making that initial decision. In this situation, the city's duty to bargain with the employee representative extends only to the implementation and effects of the layoff decision, including the number and identity of the employees to be laid off, and the timing of the layoffs.
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