1
Filed 10/12/12
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATIONIN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIATHIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT(Sacramento)----CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF HUMANRESOURCES et al.,Plaintiffs, Cross-defendantsand Appellants,v.SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION,LOCAL 1000,Defendant, Cross-complainantand Respondent.C066531(Super. Ct. No.34200850000018CUPTGDS)APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of SacramentoCounty, Kevin R. Culhane, Judge. Reversed with directions.Christopher E. Thomas and Dana Rice Brown for Plaintiffs,Cross-defendants and Appellants.Brooke Dara Pierman and J. Felix De La Torre, forDefendant, Cross-complainant and Respondent.This appeal arises from the interplay of federal courtorders, public employee labor agreements, legislative approvalof those agreements, and purportedly binding labor arbitration.
2The Department of Personnel Administration (DPA)
1
negotiatedwith the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000(Union), representing certain medical employees of theCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).This produced two similar memoranda of understanding (the MOUs)increasing the salary ranges for some Union employees by certainpercentages, effective January 1, 2007. The Legislature andGovernor approved these MOUs in September 2006.
In October 2006, the federal “
Plata
” court ordered an
increase in those same salary ranges by a larger amount than theMOUs, effective retroactively to September 1, 2006.
2
The DPA declined to apply the MOU salary increases on topof the
Plata
increases, generally taking the view that they hadbeen superseded by the larger
Plata
increases. The Union fileda grievance, contending that the MOU increases had to be appliedto whatever salary ranges were extant on January 1, 2007, andtherefore should be calculated on top of the previously-effective
Plata
increases. The dispute was submitted to a laborarbitrator, who sided with the Union, and the trial courtconfirmed the arbitration award.DPA and CDCR (collectively, the State) timely filed thisappeal. On appeal, the State generally contends the arbitrationaward violates public policy because its effect is to paysalaries above the levels approved by the Legislature.______________________________________________________________
1
During the pendency of this appeal, DPA became part of the newCalifornia Department of Human Resources.
2
The parties refer to the federal case as the “
Plata
” case, few
details of which are relevant to this case. (But see generally,
Brown v. Plata
(2011) 563 U.S. ___ [179 L.Ed.2d 969].)
3Based on two decisions of this court--one decided
after
thejudgment--we agree with the State: Even if the arbitratorcorrectly interpreted the MOUs, salary increases still must beapproved by the Legislature to be effective. (See
CaliforniaStatewide Law Enforcement Assn. v. Department of PersonnelAdministration
(2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1 (
CSLEA
);
Department of Personnel Administration v. California Correctional PeaceOfficers Assn
. (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 1193 (
CCPOA
).)Although the Legislature was aware that the MOUs
might
beconstrued so that the MOU salary increases would be calculatedon top of the
Plata
increases, the expense of such aninterpretation was not
explicitly
presented to and approved bythe Legislature. Accordingly, we must reverse with directions:To the extent it interpreted an ambiguity in the MOUs, the
arbitrator‟s award must be confirmed; however, “to the extentthat the arbitrator‟s award mandates the agreement be enforced
without unequivocal legislative approval, it violates public
policy” (
CSLEA
,
supra
, 192 Cal.App.4th at p. 16) and must bevacated.
Further, the portion of the arbitrator‟s award purporting
to retain jurisdiction over this dispute must be vacated. As we
shall explain, the Union‟s remedy, if any, is to obt
ain passageof a bill approving the higher salaries, a remedy squarely inthe political realm. Neither the arbitrator nor the judiciaryhas the power to implement the arbitration award.
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