Boling v. Pub. Emp't Relations Bd.

245 Cal. Rptr. 3d 78, 33 Cal. App. 5th 376
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedMarch 25, 2019
DocketD069626; D069630
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 245 Cal. Rptr. 3d 78 (Boling v. Pub. Emp't Relations Bd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boling v. Pub. Emp't Relations Bd., 245 Cal. Rptr. 3d 78, 33 Cal. App. 5th 376 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

McCONNELL, P. J.

*381*81I

INTRODUCTION

This case arises from a decision by the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) finding that the City of San Diego (City) violated the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act ( Gov. Code, § 3500 et seq. ; Act)1 when the City's mayor made a policy decision to advance a citizens' pension reform initiative (Initiative) without meeting and conferring with the affected employees' unions (Unions). The California Supreme Court upheld PERB's finding that the mayor's actions violated the City's meet and confer obligations. ( Boling v. Public Employment Relations Bd. (2018) 5 Cal.5th 898, 913, 919, 236 Cal.Rptr.3d 109, 422 P.3d 552 ( Boling ).) The Supreme Court then remanded the matter to this court to "address the appropriate judicial remedy for the violation." ( Id . at p. 920, 236 Cal.Rptr.3d 109, 422 P.3d 552.) We also consider previously unaddressed challenges to PERB's administrative remedies.

As we shall explain, we decline the Unions' request to invalidate the Initiative as a judicial remedy because we conclude the Initiative's validity is more appropriately addressed in a separate quo warranto proceeding. We further conclude we must modify PERB's compensatory and cease-and-desist remedies to prevent the remedies from impermissibly encroaching upon constitutional law, statutory law, and policy matters involving initiatives, elections, and the doctrine of preemption that are unrelated to the Act. (See Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB (2002) 535 U.S. 137, 144, 147, [122 S.Ct. 1275, 152 L.Ed.2d 271] ( Hoffman Plastic ) [a labor relations board's administrative remedies may not encroach upon statutes and policies unrelated to the board's enabling act].)2

*82Specifically, we modify PERB's compensatory remedy to order the City to meet and confer over the effects of the Initiative and to pay the affected *382current and former employees represented by the Unions the difference, plus seven percent annual interest, between the compensation, including retirement benefits, the employees would have received before the Initiative became effective and the compensation the employees received after the Initiative became effective. The City's obligation to comply with the compensatory remedy extends until completion of the bargaining process, including the exhaustion of impasse procedures, if an impasse occurs. We modify PERB's cease-and-desist remedy to order the City to cease and desist from refusing to meet and confer with the Unions and, instead, to meet and confer with the Unions upon the Unions' request before placing a charter amendment on the ballot that is advanced by the City and affects employee pension benefits and/or other negotiable subjects. As so modified, we affirm PERB's decision.

II

BACKGROUND3

A

After concluding the City violated the Act, PERB imposed a compensatory remedy intended to restore the parties and affected employees to their respective bargaining positions before the failure to meet and confer occurred and to make affected employees financially whole. PERB also imposed cease-and-desist and affirmative action remedies to prevent further violations of the Act.

Specifically, PERB ordered the City to "[m]ake current and former bargaining-union employees whole for the value of any and all lost compensation, including but not limited to pension benefits, offset by the value of new benefits required from the City under [the Initiative], plus interest at the rate of seven (7) percent per annum until [the Initiative] is no longer in effect or until the City and the Unions agree otherwise."4 We refer to this remedy as PERB's compensatory remedy or the compensatory remedy.

PERB also ordered the City to cease and desist from "[r]efusing to meet and confer with the Unions before *383adopting ballot measures affecting employee pension benefits and other negotiable subjects." PERB additionally ordered the City "[u]pon request, [to] meet and confer with the Unions before adopting ballot measures affecting employee pension benefits and/or other negotiable subjects." We collectively refer to these remedies as *83PERB's cease-and-desist remedy or the cease-and-desist remedy.

B

PERB and the Unions request we affirm PERB's administrative remedies. The Unions also request we, as a judicial remedy, invalidate the Initiative. The Unions assert this review proceeding is an appropriate forum to address the Initiative's validity because there are no factual or legal issues to be resolved by another tribunal. PERB takes no position on the propriety of any judicial remedy but asserts any judicial remedy must be consistent with PERB's administrative remedies.

The City contends the validity of the Initiative may only be determined in a separate quo warranto proceeding (see Code Civ. Proc., §§ 803 - 811 ).5 The City also contends PERB's cease-and-desist remedy is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad to the extent the remedy can be interpreted to require that the City meet and confer over a duly certified citizens' initiative prior to placing the initiative on the ballot. The City further contends, to the extent PERB has directed the City to take actions effectively nullifying the effects of the Initiative, the City cannot fully comply with these directions unless the Initiative is invalidated in a quo warranto proceeding because the City has a duty to enforce the Initiative's provisions.

Like the City, the Initiative's proponents (Proponents) contend the validity of the Initiative can only be determined in a separate quo warranto proceeding. The Proponents also contend PERB's compensatory remedy violates their constitutional rights because it effectively invalidates the Initiative by reversing the Initiative's implementation and denying the electorate its fiscal *384benefits.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 Cal. Rptr. 3d 78, 33 Cal. App. 5th 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boling-v-pub-empt-relations-bd-calctapp5d-2019.