Page 6 - 2018 Janus Toolkit LG

SB 866 OVERVIEW

FIRM OVERVIEW California lawmakers have approved a budget trailer bill that imposes new obligations on

Practice Areas public sector employers related to deducting union dues and fees from workers’ paychecks.
Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill (SB) 866 on the same day the United States
Construction Advice
& Litigation Supreme Court barred the collection of mandatory agency fees that cover unions’ cost of
Education Law providing services, which the Court deemed a violation of workers’ First Amendment free
Facilities & Business speech rights.
Labor &
Employment
Litigation The Governor signed the bill, which combines the language of several other pieces of pend-
Local Government/
Special Districts ing legislation intended to protect public agency unions, on June 27, 2018. Like all budget
Public Finance bills, the provisions in SB 866 became effectively immediately.
Public Safety
Technology &
Innovation DUES PROCESSING
Water Rights &
Regulation
SB 866 standardized dues processing requirements across public agency unions, includ-
ing county, city, and state employees. SB 866 also expanded the requirements to include
Statewide employees of the Judicial Council, and also public transit district employees who are not
already covered by a specific collective bargaining law.
Sacramento
Walnut Creek
Fresno SB 866 imposes explicit requirements on public agency employers and generally makes
Monterey
Bakersfield unions responsible for portions of the dues collection process. Specifically, the bill:
Los Angeles
Mission Viejo > Authorizes employee organizations, bona fide associations and both current and re-
San Diego
tired public agency employees to request payroll deductions and requires employers to
honor such requests.
> Specifies that revocation of an authorization must be determined by the terms of the
authorization and requires public employers to direct employee requests to cancel or
change deductions to the employee organization.
> Clarifies the period in which payroll deductions commence after the employee organi-
zation notifies the public employer that it has written authorization for the deductions.
> Bars a public employer from requiring an employee organization to submit a copy of
a written authorization before commencing payroll deductions, unless a dispute arises
about the existence or terms of the authorization.
> Requires unions to indemnify public employers against claims regarding dues deduc-
tions made in reliance on information provided by the union.
> Permits public agencies to recover, from the dues and fees transmitted to the union, the
actual reasonable cost of making the deductions.

SB 866 Overview LozanoSmith.com