Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process

4. I NFORMATION R EQUESTS

An exclusive representative is entitled to all information that is “necessary and relevant” to the discharge of their representation. 276 The duty to provide information derives from the employer’s and exclusive representatives mutual obligation to meet and confer in good faith, which includes a charge to “exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals” in endeavoring to reach agreement on matters within the scope of representation. 277 The duty to provide information also exists when bargaining is not taking place. For example, employee organizations are entitled to information necessary and relevant to their other representational duties, such as pursuing disciplinary grievances. 278 Information pertaining to mandatory subjects of bargaining is presumptively relevant to the exclusive representative’s representational duties. 279 If an employer questions the relevance of the requested information, the union must provide an explanation. However, the representative is not required to establish the precise relevance of the information or how it will be used relative to its representational responsibilities, such as negotiations or other contract administration, unless the employer has rebutted the presumption of relevance. 280

PERB has found various types of information presumptively relevant when requested for collective bargaining or other contract administration:

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Health insurance data;

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Wage survey and other salary data;

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Staffing and enrollment projections;

 The names of employees disciplined for protected activities, as well as the names and home addresses of former employees to determine entitlement to reinstatement or back pay;

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Rating sheets to evaluate transfer candidates;

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Employee personnel files for grievance representation;

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Employees affected by a reduction in work hours;

 Seniority lists, transfers, reduction in hours, and other information on subcontracting unit work;

 Investigative reports into hostile and unsafe working environments. 281

For information regarding subjects for which there is no presumption of relevance, the exclusive representative bears the burden of establishing that the information is necessary and relevant to its representation responsibilities. 282 A liberal discovery-like standard is applied to determine the relevance of such information. Thus, the employer must provide the requested information if it “likely would be relevant and useful to the union’s… fulfillment of the union’s statutory representation duties.” 283 An employer may not unreasonably delay providing relevant information. Once an exclusive representative makes a good faith demand for relevant information, the employer must either supply the information or timely and adequately explain its reasons for not complying with the

Labor Relations: The Meet and Confer Process ©2019 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 51