LCW Partner Adrianna Guzman and Senior Counsel David Urban secured a victory on behalf of a city when the California Supreme Court denied an employee’s petition for review as to a Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) decision.
A police department employee filed an unfair practice charge against a city. The employee alleged that the city selected another applicant for a promotion because of the employee’s Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) activities. However, a PERB administrative law judge, and later PERB itself, determined that the city’s decision to promote another applicant was not made to retaliate for the employee’s collective bargaining-protected activities. PERB concluded the city proved that it acted because of non-discriminatory reasons in its hiring decision. After numerous appeals, the employee filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court.
In challenging the employee’s petition for review, LCW argued that the employee did not raise any issue as to “uniformity of decision”, nor did the employee identify any “important question of law” for the Supreme Court to consider. Moreover, the employee’s petition did not ask the Court to review whether the city had met its burden of proving an independent and adequate reason for not selecting the employee for the promotion. The Court ultimately agreed and denied the employee’s petition.
NOTE:
This case demonstrates how important it is for educational entities to have records that show a legitimate and non-discriminatory reason for promotions.
