Public employment: notifications and right of intervention.

(1) Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of specified public employers and employees under various acts regulating collective bargaining. Under existing law, PERB has the power and duty to investigate an unfair practice charge and to determine whether the charge is justified and the appropriate remedy for the unfair practice. This bill would require a plaintiff or petitioner filing a civil action seeking injunctive relief against a strike, work stoppage, or other labor action by public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB, if PERB is not a party to the action, to serve a copy of the petition or complaint by electronic mail on the general counsel of PERB, in accordance with certain procedures. The bill would also require a plaintiff or petitioner that intends to apply to a superior court for a temporary restraining order to enjoin a strike, work stoppage, or other labor action by public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB, if PERB is not a party to the action, to give notice by electronic mail to the general counsel of PERB of the application when the plaintiff or petitioner provides that notice to the defendant or respondent. The bill would specify that the above-described provisions do not authorize a plaintiff or petitioner to seek relief in court without first exhausting administrative remedies before PERB when exhaustion is required by statute, regulation, or case law. This bill would grant PERB the right, upon timely application, to intervene in a civil action arising from a labor dispute that involves public employees whose labor relations are regulated by PERB and that PERB claims implicate the constitutionality, interpretation, or enforcement of a statute administered by PERB. (2) Existing law, the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, establishes procedures regulating, among other matters, court employee classification and compensation, labor relations, and employment protection. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court that provide a mechanism for the establishment of a panel of court of appeal justices who are qualified to hear certain petitions relating to arbitration and writ applications and from which a single justice is required to be assigned to hear the matter in the superior court, as prescribed. This bill would require the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court that provide a mechanism for the establishment of a panel of court of appeal justices who would be qualified to hear actions that seek to enjoin strikes, work stoppages, or other labor activity by trial court employees, from which a single justice would be assigned to hear the matter in the superior court in accordance with certain procedures.