Office of Public Employment Practices & Representation

The Public Employment Practices and Representative office has four areas of responsibility:

1. representation
2. improper practices
3. declaratory rulings
4. strikes 

Representation deals with petitions to represent unrepresented public employees, petitions to represent already represented employees either in the current unit or in some other unit configuration, and petitions to decertify the existing bargaining agent. Also included are applications by public employers to designate certain employees as managerial or confidential and petitions seeking unit placement or unit clarification.

Improper practices are charges filed by individuals, employee organizations or public employers, alleging violations of Section 209-a of the Act. Six improper employer practices and three improper employee organization practices are identified.

The third area of the section’s responsibility is declaratory rulings. A declaratory ruling petition seeks a ruling with respect to the applicability of the Act or with respect to the scope of negotiations under the Act. It may be filed by any person, employee organization or employer, under Part 210 of the Rules.

The petitioner for a declaratory ruling may seek a determination as to the applicability of the Act to the petitioner or any other person, employee organization or employer, or a determination of a scope of negotiations issue.

The final area of the Office of Public Employment Practices & Representation is charges arising out of the strike prohibition set forth in the Act. Counsel’s office investigates and prosecutes strike charges before the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) assigned by PERB’s Deputy Chairman. The ALJ then submits a report and recommendations to the Board.