Public employment: labor relations: release time.

Existing law, including the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act, Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act, as well as provisions commonly referred to as the Educational Employment Relations Act and the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, regulates the labor relations of the state, the courts, and specified local public agencies and their employees. Existing law establishes other requirements relating to labor relations that are applicable to specified transit agencies. These acts grant specified public employees the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their choosing and require public agency employers, among other things, to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations and exclusive representatives on terms and conditions of employment. These acts generally require the public entities in this context to grant employee representatives of recognized employee organizations reasonable time off without loss of compensation or benefits for certain purposes in connection with labor relations, commonly referred to as release time. This bill would prescribe requirements relating to release time that would apply to all of the public employers and employees subject to the acts described above and would generally repeal the provisions relating to release time in those acts. The bill would require these public employers to grant a reasonable number of employee representatives of the exclusive representative reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits for specified activities. This requirement would apply to activities to investigate and process grievances or otherwise enforce a collective bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding; to meet and confer or meet and negotiate with the public employer on matters within the scope of representation, including preparation for the activities specified in these provisions; to testify or appear as the designated representative of the exclusive representative in conferences, hearings, or other proceedings before the Public Employment Relations Board or similar bodies, as specified; to testify or appear as the designated representative of the exclusive representative before the governing body of the public employer, or a personnel, civil service, or merit commission, among others, and to serve as a representative of the exclusive representative for new employee orientations. The bill would require the exclusive representative to provide reasonable notice requesting an absence in this connection. The bill would specify that its provisions prescribe minimum release time rights and would prescribe requirements regarding the relation of its provisions to other labor agreements that address release time. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from enforcing these provisions with regard to public transit workers that are not otherwise subject to the board's jurisdiction.