This section establishes the official name for a set of laws governing the relationship between the California Legislature and its employees as the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act.

This law encourages open communication between employers and employees, particularly in resolving disputes about wages and work conditions. It aims to improve how employers manage their staff and recognizes employees' rights to join and be represented by employee organizations. It also allows employees to choose one organization to exclusively represent them and get financial support from those benefiting from the representation.

This law explains terms related to the relationship between employees of the California Legislature and their governing bodies. A 'Board' refers to the Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees employment relations without interfering with legislative functions. An 'Employee' includes most legislative staff, excluding legislative members, appointed officers, department leaders, confidential employees, and other excluded roles. Employers have the sole power to classify these roles. An 'Employee organization' represents employees in dealings with the employer. 'Employer' refers to the Assembly or Senate Committee on Rules. 'Maintenance of membership' ensures employees in a recognized organization remain members for a specified period unless they officially withdraw. 'Mediation' involves a neutral party helping resolve employment disputes, and 'Recognized employee organization' refers to a group acknowledged as the exclusive representative for employees.

If anyone deliberately tries to stop or obstruct a board member or their agents from doing their job, they can be charged with a misdemeanor. If convicted, the person could be fined up to $1,000.

This law states that a specific board has the sole authority to decide if claims of unfair practices are valid and to determine necessary remedies, except when dealing with damages from unlawful strikes, where certain expenses and losses can't be covered. Employees, employee groups, or employers can file unfair practice charges, but the board has limitations on issuing complaints. Complaints can't be based on actions older than six months before the charge was made, and they must respect existing agreements unless using those grievance processes seems pointless. The board can decide against agreements that don't relate to unfair practices under this law. The board can order parties to stop unfair practices and make them take corrective actions, like reinstating workers, but it can't interfere with the Legislature's duties.

This law grants employees the freedom to choose whether to join or participate in employee organizations to represent them in dealings with their employer. Employees can also opt not to join these groups. However, agreements can include a rule requiring employees to remain members if they already are. Importantly, employees always have the right to handle their employment matters with their employer on their own.

Employee organizations can represent their members in dealings with employers. However, if an organization is recognized as the sole representative for a group of employees, only that organization can represent them in employment matters. These organizations can set rules about who can join or be removed from their group. Importantly, employees still have the right to speak for themselves in their own job-related matters.

If you're part of an employee organization, you can have your dues and fees taken out of your paycheck automatically. However, once a certain organization becomes the main representative for a group of employees, only that organization can handle these paycheck deductions for its members in that group.

If a union is recognized as the official representative of a group of employees, it can make an agreement with the employer to deduct membership dues directly from employees' paychecks to support union activities. This is known as a maintenance of membership deduction.

The employer must provide the union with enough employment data to calculate these membership fees and ensure the correct amounts are deducted. The deducted fees, along with detailed records, must be sent to the union every month. If the union requests, this data may need to be in a machine-readable format.

This section outlines what topics can and cannot be negotiated between employers and employees in the workplace. Employers and employees can only negotiate over things like wages, work hours, and other job conditions. However, they cannot negotiate about how services or activities required by law are organized or operated.

Additionally, several specific issues are excluded from negotiations because they fall under the Legislature’s authority. These include qualifications and elections of legislators, the internal procedures and rules of the legislative bodies, legislative calendars, and any laws or policies about ethics and conflicts of interest.

This law requires employers to notify employee organizations in writing about any new policies affecting them, and to give those organizations a chance to discuss these changes before they happen. However, in emergency situations where immediate action is necessary, the employer can adopt new policies without prior notice, but must inform the organizations and discuss the changes as soon as possible afterward.

This law requires employers to engage in fair and honest discussions with employee organizations about wages, work hours, and other job conditions. It means they need to meet and talk with these groups when either side requests it, allowing enough time to discuss and resolve issues before the state's budget for the next year is finalized.

Employers must share relevant but non-confidential information with these employee groups. However, they are not obligated to share confidential information, which is protected by law from public access. Information such as an employee's name, job title, work location, and contact details is not considered confidential in this context.

This law section says that when an employer and an employee organization come to an agreement, they need to write down the terms in a memorandum of understanding. This document should then be submitted to the employer for approval as a formal resolution if necessary.

This law states that if any additional documents, like side letters or appendices, are intended to be part of a new agreement with an employer, they must be clearly identified by all parties involved. This ensures that these documents are recognized and officially part of the next agreement that will be submitted for approval.

If an employer doesn't fully pay for parts of an agreement that need funding, both parties can renegotiate some or all of the agreement. They can also agree on parts that don't need legislative approval.

This law states that if a labor agreement between an employer and a recognized employee organization expires and they haven't agreed on a new one or reached a negotiation impasse, the terms of the old agreement still apply. This includes terms that are above current laws, involve arbitration, or limit strikes.

If negotiations do hit a standstill, the employer can adopt its final offer, but both parties must continue to negotiate in good faith if circumstances change. This doesn't take away any negotiation rights the employee group has.

If an employer and an employee organization can't agree after trying for a reasonable time, they have options for mediation. They can jointly choose a mediator and split the mediation costs, or one party can ask the board to appoint one. If the board picks the mediator, they cover the mediation costs instead.

Employee representatives from recognized organizations must be given paid time off to discuss work-related matters with their employer. This is only valid when a formal understanding isn’t currently in place and applies exclusively to employees as defined in a specific section.

This law makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against employees or applicants who exercise their rights under this chapter. Employers cannot discriminate against or coerce employees. Employers must also respect the rights of employee organizations and meet with them in good faith. They can't interfere with or financially support employee organizations unjustly, nor should they promote one organization over another. Additionally, employers are required to participate in mediation processes as outlined in a related section.

This law makes it illegal for an employee organization, such as a union, to make an employer break certain rules, threaten or discriminate against employees for using their legal rights, avoid meeting with lawmakers to discuss employee issues, or refuse to take part in mediation proceedings.

This section discusses how judicial reviews can occur concerning unit determinations and unfair practice complaints in labor relations. Judicial review is allowed if either the board agrees the case is important, or the issue is raised as a defense to an unfair practice complaint. A special type of court relief, called a 'writ of extraordinary relief', can be sought by a party involved in the case after the board has issued a decision. This petition must be filed within 30 days in the district court of appeals where the dispute happened. The court must then inform the board, which will submit the case records. The court can enforce, modify, or cancel the board's orders if supported by strong evidence.

If too much time has passed to request a review, the board itself can ask a district court to enforce its final decisions if someone refuses to comply. In this case, the court will ensure the order is carried out but won't re-evaluate the order's merits.

This law outlines how employees and their organizations are recognized for representation purposes. An employer must recognize employee organizations chosen according to board rules, but employees can choose to represent themselves. The board sets up procedures for petitions and elections to form appropriate bargaining units. When organizing these units, only employees from the same employer can be grouped together. Employees cannot be split based on political party or assigned both Senate and Assembly employees in the same group. Furthermore, employees can vote to revoke the recognition of their representative organization, but only after at least a year since recognition was granted.

This law requires employers to set up fair rules for a few specific tasks involving employee organizations. These tasks include how employee groups get registered, how their official status is determined, and how to identify their leaders.

This law states that if an administrative law judge makes a decision about whether an employee organization is recognized or certified, and that decision is appealed, it becomes the final order of the board if the board doesn't make a new ruling within 180 days of the appeal being filed.

When deciding the right group of employees for representation, the board must follow specific guidelines. First, an election for representation won't happen unless an employee group wants it. To decide on the group, the board looks at factors like shared work interests and goals among employees, their job history in the government, and similar skills and working conditions. Also considered are how the group affects discussions between worker groups and employers, the group's size, and work locations. The impact on employer operations, public service duties, and employee representation rights is also reviewed. Finally, the board checks if grouping affects negotiations due to splitting employees into too many groups. Political affiliation is not a valid reason for forming a group.

This law section focuses on how employee organizations and employers exchange and handle initial proposals in meet and confer settings. The proposals must be presented publicly, and they become public records. After presenting proposals, there must be a seven-day period for the public to read and comment on them before any meetings occur, unless there's an emergency, like a natural disaster, which allows for immediate action. Furthermore, if any new substantial topics arise in discussions, they must be recorded as public records 48 hours later. Lastly, this section doesn't change the Legislature's ability to have closed meetings under certain constitutional provisions.

This law section states that a specific labor-related rule, Section 923 of the Labor Code, is not relevant or applicable to employees covered under this chapter.

This law ensures that the current pay, working hours, and employment terms for employees stay the same, unless they are changed through the employer's set rules or through an agreement with a recognized employee group.

This law states that if a part of this chapter is found to be invalid or does not apply to certain people or situations, the rest of the chapter remains effective. The idea is that each part of the chapter can work independently, so if one part fails, it doesn't affect the rest.

This law states that any costs an employer faces because of a formally approved agreement must follow a specific part of the California Constitution, ensuring those expenses comply with constitutional rules.

This California law states that members of the Legislature or certain employees can freely express their views or opinions without it being considered an unfair labor practice. However, if an employer specifically authorizes them to speak or represent the employer, then those expressions could be seen as tied to the employer.

This law states that an employer does not have to share certain legislative documents if they relate to the internal decision-making process. The exception applies even if other laws generally require disclosure. These documents include an employer's strategies, thoughts, opinions, meeting notes, and any instructions given to employees who don't have full union representation rights.

The law states that employees working for the California Legislature are not part of the regular civil service system. If a legislative member an employee is assigned to leaves office for any reason, the employer can separate the employee from their position. However, the employer must offer a transition period to help the employee adjust, which could include continuing work for a certain time or applying for other positions. The details of this transition period must be discussed and agreed upon through collective bargaining.

This rule or set of rules will officially start being enforced on July 1, 2026.