A union had asked a city employer, with one day’s notice, for paid release for several employees to attend an informal conference on an unfair practice charge (UPC) at the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). The city granted the paid release time, but only to the designated employee representative to attend the informal conference, as required by the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA). The city allowed the remaining employees to use their own paid leave to cover the time off.
The union filed an unfair practice charge, alleging that the city violated the MMBA by denying paid release time to all the employees who attended the informal conference. LCW argued on the city’s behalf that: 1) the UPC was not filed within six months after the union knew of the city’s paid release time decision, and 2) the MMBA only allows the designated representative to have paid release time in connection with PERB proceedings.
The union filed an amended UPC, alleging that the non-payment of the release time occurred within the six-month limitations period. LCW convinced the PERB agent to dismiss the charge as untimely because the six-month limitations period began at an earlier time when the city communicated it would only grant paid release time to the designated representative. The PERB agent did not address LCW’s argument regarding the “one designated representative” limit on paid release time for PERB proceedings as stated in Government Code Section 3505.3.