SECTIONS 3546-3546.5 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 3546-3546.5

3546. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon
receiving notice from the exclusive representative of a public school
employee who is in a unit for which an exclusive representative has
been selected pursuant to this chapter, the employer shall deduct the
amount of the fair share service fee authorized by this section from
the wages and salary of the employee and pay that amount to the
employee organization. Thereafter, the employee shall, as a condition
of continued employment, be required either to join the recognized
employee organization or pay the fair share service fee. The amount
of the fee shall not exceed the dues that are payable by members of
the employee organization, and shall cover the cost of negotiation,
contract administration, and other activities of the employee
organization that are germane to its functions as the exclusive
bargaining representative. Agency fee payers shall have the right,
pursuant to regulations adopted by the Public Employment Relations
Board, to receive a rebate or fee reduction upon request, of that
portion of their fee that is not devoted to the cost of negotiations,
contract administration, and other activities of the employee
organization that are germane to its function as the exclusive
bargaining representative.
(b) The costs covered by the fee under this section may include,
but shall not necessarily be limited to, the cost of lobbying
activities designed to foster collective bargaining negotiations and
contract administration, or to secure for the represented employees
advantages in wages, hours, and other conditions of employment in
addition to those secured through meeting and negotiating with the
employer.
(c) The arrangement described in subdivision (a) shall remain in
effect unless it is rescinded pursuant to subdivision (d). The
employer shall remain neutral, and shall not participate in any
election conducted under this section unless required to do so by the
board.
(d) (1) The arrangement described in subdivision (a) may be
rescinded by a majority vote of all the employees in the negotiating
unit subject to that arrangement, if a request for a vote is
supported by a petition containing 30 percent of the employees in the
negotiating unit, the signatures are obtained in one academic year.
There shall not be more than one vote taken during the term of any
collective bargaining agreement in effect on or after January 1,
2001.
(2) If the arrangement described in subdivision (a) is rescinded
pursuant to paragraph (1), a majority of all employees in the
negotiating unit may request that the arrangement be reinstated. That
request shall be submitted to the board along with a petition
containing the signatures of at least 30 percent of the employees in
the negotiating unit. The vote shall be conducted at the worksite by
secret ballot, and shall be conducted no sooner than one year after
the rescission of the arrangement under this subdivision.
(3) If the board determines that the appropriate number of
signatures have been collected, it shall conduct the vote to rescind
or reinstate in a manner that it shall prescribe in accordance with
this subdivision.
(4) The cost of conducting an election under this subdivision to
reinstate the organizational security arrangement shall be borne by
the petitioning party and the cost of conducting an election to
rescind the arrangement shall be borne by the board.
(e) The recognized employee organization shall indemnify and hold
the public school employer harmless against any reasonable legal
fees, legal costs, and settlement or judgment liability arising from
any court or administrative action relating to the school district's
compliance with this section. The recognized employee organization
shall have the exclusive right to determine whether any such action
or proceeding shall or shall not be compromised, resisted, defended,
tried, or appealed. This indemnification and hold harmless duty shall
not apply to actions related to compliance with this section brought
by the exclusive representative of district employees against the
public school employer.
(f) The employer of a public school employee shall provide the
exclusive representative of a public employee with the home address
of each member of a bargaining unit, regardless of when that employee
commences employment, so that the exclusive representative can
comply with the notification requirements set forth by the United
States Supreme Court in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986) 89
L.Ed. 2d 232.

3546.3. Notwithstanding subdivision (i) of Section 3540.1, Section
3546, or any other provision of this chapter, any employee who is a
member of a religious body whose traditional tenets or teachings
include objections to joining or financially supporting employee
organizations shall not be required to join, maintain membership in,
or financially support any employee organization as a condition of
employment; except that such employee may be required, in lieu of a
service fee, to pay sums equal to such service fee either to a
nonreligious, nonlabor organization, charitable fund exempt from
taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the Internal Revenue
Code, chosen by such employee from a list of at least three such
funds, designated in the organizational security arrangement, or if
the arrangement fails to designate such funds, then to any such fund
chosen by the employee. Either the employee organization or the
public school employer may require that proof of such payments be
made on an annual basis to the public school employer as a condition
of continued exemption from the requirement of financial support to
the recognized employee organization. If such employee who holds
conscientious objections pursuant to this section requests the
employee organization to use the grievance procedure or arbitration
procedure on the employee's behalf, the employee organization is
authorized to charge the employee for the reasonable cost of using
such procedure.

3546.5. Every recognized or certified employee organization shall
keep an adequate itemized record of its financial transactions and
shall make available annually, to the board and to the employees who
are members of the organization, within 60 days after the end of its
fiscal year, a detailed written financial report thereof in the form
of a balance sheet and an operating statement, signed and certified
as to accuracy by its president and treasurer, or corresponding
principal officers. In the event of failure of compliance with this
section, any employee within the organization may petition the board
for an order compelling such compliance, or the board may issue such
compliance order on its motion.