As part of the County’s relationship with the employee organizations, and as required by California law, management must provide reasonable advance written notice to employee organizations whenever it intends to implement a rule or workplace change that will likely affect employees in that department or unit. San Mateo County has incorporated this requirement into each of its Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs).
At the employee organization’s request, management has the obligation to meet and confer regarding the matter before implementation occurs, even if you have involved the employees in developing the planned changes and they are in agreement.
Who is covered?
All County Departments and Divisions are covered and these guidelines should be considered and used by all County management staff. One or more employee organizations may be involved, depending on the issue and which employees are likely to be affected.
What is the identifying trigger?
The need to provide employee organization(s) with advance notice and an opportunity to “meet and confer” is triggered any time the management of a department or sub-unit of a department plans to make a workplace change, and that change is likely to affect represented employees in some manner, even if the represented employees have agreed to the change or it is considered a positive change. Workplace changes include issues involving wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.
Some examples of common situations that would trigger the need to notify employee organizations and meet and confer if requested, include the following:
- Establishing or adjusting a departmental sick leave policy
- Example: Management would like to implement a rule that all employees in the unit must call a specific sick line phone extension if they are calling in sick.
- Changing a unit’s working hours
- Example: Management would like to change the “closing time” of an office from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. two days per week.
- Establishing or adjusting an alternative work schedule
- Example: Management wants to establish a 9/80 workweek in place of the traditional 5/8 workweek as a means to allow greater work/life balance for the employees and to better serve the department’s clients.
- Establishing or adjusting performance standards
- Example: Management wants to establish standards for the quality or quantity of work to be performed.
Not all changes trigger meet and confer obligations. The County’s Employer-Employee & Labor Relations Policy states that “the County retains the exclusive right to determine the methods, means, and personnel by which County government operations are to be conducted.” Decisions to make these types of changes are not subject to meet and confer. However, the County is still required to notify the union(s) of the change and meet and confer over the impact of the change on the represented employees.
For example, a change in your computer system has the result of certain employees being required to enter and write their own reports, replacing the old method of support staff doing this work for them. While the computer change itself does not require notice to employee organizations, the impact the change may have on those employees being required to enter their own data and write reports does require notice to employee organizations.
While the above examples are helpful, they are not exhaustive. Departments should contact their Employee & Labor Relations representative for guidance any time a change is contemplated.
What do we do if we decide to make a change?
After consulting with Employee & Labor Relations, notify the employee organization(s) of the change in writing. The notice should describe the proposed change in detail and explain why the change is being planned. The written notice should be sent a minimum of three weeks before the proposed implementation date, providing ample time for the employee organization(s) to receive the letter and decide if they want to meet, as well as time to actually hold the meeting. It is always recommended to provide as much advanced notice of a change as possible. In cases involving major or complex changes, more time should be allowed as multiple meetings may be necessary. Please see Sample Notice to Union(s).
If not contacted by the employee organization(s) requesting to meet, you can move forward with implementing the change. If contacted by an employee organization, set a mutually agreeable date and time to meet.
What do we do to prepare for the meeting?
It is important that you adequately prepare so that you present yourself at the meeting as being organized and knowledgeable about the specifics of the change and the reasons for the change. It is essential that management be able to explain the issue that is generating the need for the change.
We recommend that prior to the meeting you develop a document (or chart) that illustrates how the unit operates now, and how the unit will operate after the change. You might use separate pages for each or do a side-by-side comparison chart. Additionally, you should list the primary reasons for the change, and the benefits to the department or unit attributable to the proposed change, as well as any benefits to the affected employees.
You will have the most success with the implementation if any potential issues are resolved beforehand. Remember that the union may present facts or issues that you had not considered. Anticipating and troubleshooting potential faults or problems with the proposed plan is helpful. For example, put yourself in the place of the employees and the union, and analyze the proposed change from their perspective.
Who attends the meeting?
You can expect a union representative, the union steward and one or more affected employees to attend. The union gets to select which employees attend, and often employees selected may not be those that will be directly impacted. Management can object to the number of employees if it impacts coverage or other operational needs.
Management may have one or more representatives attend. Generally, Department Heads do not attend, as they might be required to review any final decision that is made. Employee & Labor Relations should be included in the meeting as well.
What do we do at the meeting?
Start the meeting by explaining the proposed change and the reasons for the change. You should use the comparison document you prepared as a guide to assist you in explaining the change, if applicable, and you might also prepare an outline of the plan to share with those in attendance.
It is essential to remember that you must participate in this meeting in good faith. The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, governing management-labor relationships in California local governments, mandates that you shall have the “obligation personally to meet and confer promptly upon request” and “continue for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation.”
The representative(s) may ask questions during your presentation. It is appropriate to answer questions that you feel comfortable answering. It is also appropriate to respond by saying that you’ll have to research the question asked and that you will get back to them. It is essential that you do then get back to the representative(s) with the answers.
After you have completed your presentation, the employee organization representative(s) may offer their opinion on your proposal and present alternative suggestions. It is important to listen to their point of view. The employee organization may present facts or issues that you had not considered. Also, if an alternative approach is presented that meets your stated goals, you must fairly consider it and adopt it unless it involves additional costs or results in operational problems.
The union may also say they need to consider the proposal and ask to schedule another meeting to present their response. Always schedule this next meeting and agree to a date at the time it is proposed, ensuring that the process moves forward. Call Employee & Labor Relations for guidance any time an employee organization cancels a meeting at the last minute or appears to be delaying or slowing down the process.
Always take what the employee organization(s) representative(s) say under advisement and assure those at the meeting that you will get back to them. You should not become argumentative at the table, and only commit to changes at the table that you are sure are within County and Departmental management parameters. The decision to make changes or implement as originally planned should usually be made only after a subsequent meeting with management and Employee & Labor Relations.
What do we do after the meet and confer?
Meet with upper management and/or Human Resources to finalize the plan. Analyze proposed changes and alternatives that were made at the meeting and incorporate them if they allow you to reach your objective without incurring excess cost or experiencing operational problems.
In your file, document the specific reasons why any proposed change/alternative has not been incorporated into the plan. This documentation will assist you later if your final plan is questioned, or if unforeseeable issues arise during implementation. If you do not have union agreement on the plan you intend to implement, contact Employee & Labor Relations to discuss this process and receive guidance on how to proceed.
Contact the employee representative(s) and verbally advise them of what you can and cannot agree to. Prepare a written document outlining the final plan and advise the employee representative(s) of the final plan. You will also need to communicate this information to the affected employees.