HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 - - Discussion of Noticing Requirements for - 2/8/2011CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
REPORT
MEETING DATE: February 8, 2011 ITEM NUMBER: rj
SUBJECT: NOTICING REQUIREMENTS FOR OUTSOURCING OR LAYOFFS
DATE: FEBRUARY 4, 2011
FROM: THE CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
PRESENTATION BY: KIMBERLY HALL BARLOW, CITY ATTORNEY
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: KIMBERLY HALL BARLOW AT (714) 754-5152
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council receive the information and provide direction to staff on any possible
areas of contracting that staff should explore and bring back for Council consideration.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council Budget Working Group requested that staff provide information on the
legal requirements if Council should determine to contract for specific services or
determine to eliminate or reduce certain City services to address budgetary concerns.
A number of statutes, City policies and agreement/MOU provisions would come cir1to
play should the Council determine to contract out for specific services or to reductror
eliminate specific City services, resulting in layoffs or elimination of positions. A ger*al ...
overview is provided; more specific requirements can be identified if Council identifies a
specific service to be contracted for or eliminated.
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ANALYSIS:
Is the City required to give notice to each bargaining unit before issuing
layoff notices to its members?
Yes. Rule 14, Section 5 of the Personnel Rules and Regulations, as well as
Administrative Regulation 2.261 require notice be provided to the bargaining units
' A.R. 2.26: In accordance with Rule 14, Section [5] of the Personnel Rules and Regulations, thirty (30)
calendar days before the effective date of layoff, the appointing authority shall notify Personnel of
the intended action with reasons therefore. In the event a decision is made by the City to contract
out for a specific service performed by City employees, the City will give the affected employees a
minimum of six (6) months advance notification in which to evaluate their own situation and assist in
planning for the future. The City shall meet and consult with the concerned employee organization
on such matters as the timing of the layoff and the number and identity of the employees affected
by the layoff.
and to each affected employee. For layoffs which are not the result of
contracting out a specific service, the City must give to each affected employee,
as well as the bargaining unit of which they are a member, at least thirty days'
notice. In addition, the City would be required to meet and consult with the
applicable bargaining unit to identify and address impacts to any remaining
members of the unit. These requirements are incorporated into the MOUs with
each bargaining group to varying degrees. See Article 19.2 of the CMCEA MOU,
Article 19.1 of CMPA MOU, Article 19 of CMPMA MOU, Article 24 of CMFA
MOU.
For layoffs which would result from contracting out a specific service, each
affected employee would be entitled to at least six months' notice pursuant to
Administrative Regulation 2.26 and the City is also required to meet and consult
with the applicable bargaining units (or employees if not part of a bargaining unit)
to identify the specific employees/positions which would be subject to layoff as
well as the impact of such layoffs/contracting out on the remaining members of
the unit.
2. Is the City required to be specific as to the service/program being
considered for contracting out? In other words, can the City Council issue
a blanket notice to all employees of its intent to contract out all services to
keep all options open?
No. The Council must first consider and determine which specific services would
be contracted for and then give the required six months' notice to affected
employees and bargaining units. Article 19.2 with CMCEA states that once "a
decision is made by the City to contract out for a specific service" the required
notice is given. Staff believes this requires that notice be given out after the
decision to contract out, not before.
As to the possibility of contracting with OCFA, the existing rules would require
giving six months' notice to CMFA members. However, the transition time for
such contracting out would be subject to negotiation with CMFA and OCFA and
could potentially be shorter.
It should be noted that in the event of a layoff, part-time positions are eliminated
first. In addition, employees who are notified of layoffs are required to exercise
their "bumping" rights within five working days of receiving layoff notifications.
Thus, whether thirty days' notice or six months' notice is given to specific
employees, the notified employees will have to notify management of any
position which they elect to displace into, which would in turn trigger layoff
notices to those effected who otherwise would not have been laid off.
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3. May the City withdraw its notice at any time over the 6 months' notice
period?
The City could elect to rescind any thirty days' or six months' notices required to
be given. However, employees who receive such notices may seek positions
elsewhere during the notice period and thus rescission would not necessarily
result in any given employee continuing employment with the City.
Staff would need to assess the impacts of any possible staff reduction or
contracting out, and per the requirements of the Meyers-Millias Brown Act, the
City would need to meet with the bargaining units to discuss possible impacts to
their working conditions as a result elimination of positions or contracting out for
services.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
None at this time.
FISCAL REVIEW:
The potential financial impact of eliminating, reducing or contracting out specific
services cannot be determined until the specific positions/services are identified.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney prepared this report with input from Human Resources staff.
CONCLUSION:
Staff is seeking direction as to any particular service Council is interested in contracting
out or reducing or eliminating so that appropriate studies, impact analysis, etc. can be
performed and brought forward for City Council action.
KI BERLY ALL BARLOW
City Attorney
C
BOBBY O
Budget and Research Officer
STEVE MANDOKI
Administrative Services Director
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