May 12, 2008

Thanks to those of you who attended the recent LERA conference in Seattle. The conference was well attended and offered excellent speakers and a wide variety of workshops. Congratulations to PERC Field Services Managers Walter Stuteville and Martha Nicoloff and Labor Relations Adjudicator/Mediators Christy Yoshitomi and Lisa Hartrich.

The new Commission rules that went into effect on April 1st can be found by following the link on the PERC homepage. Additionally, the Commission adopted a new election campaign rule for state employees at its April 23rd meeting. I am working on a draft self-determination election rule that would allow unrepresented employees who share a community of interest with an existing unit of represented employees to vote for inclusion in the existing bargaining unit. Input is welcome; however, I intend to present the final draft to the Commission for adoption at its June 3rd meeting.

Among the more notable rules already adopted are those that limit briefs to 25 pages. Even though the Commission and hearing officers/examiners may, upon request, allow longer briefs, you should not expect that such a request will be granted unless a case involves novel or complex issues. The staff and the Commission have suggested that you limit your briefs to a discussion of the legal issues, rather than to recite the facts set forth in the transcript.

I would like to call your attention to a significant decision issued by the Commission on May 7, 2008, in the City of Mabton, Decision 9992-A. The case instructs me to implement a change whereby parties are considered unrepresented until such time as a notice of appearance is filed with the Commission. The change only applies to adjudicative proceedings under the Administrative Procedures Act. Therefore, the agency will not serve Commission papers on counsel who have historically represented a particular party until such time as a notice of appearance is filed. Counsel who file complaints or petitions on behalf of parties are, of course, representatives. The following notice is being attached to all courtesy letters sent with applicable new case filings:

Please note that pursuant to the Commission’s decision in City of Mabton, Decision 9992-A (PECB), (May 7, 2008), the Commission’s staff will not add a respondent’s attorney or representative listed on a complaint form to the docket record, and will not serve that attorney or representative with Commission papers until a notice of appearance is filed. Even though a particular attorney or representative has historically represented a party, that attorney or representative will not be considered the representative of record by the agency until he or she files a notice of appearance. Until a notice of appearance is received by the agency, only the respondent’s chief executive officer as listed in the enclosed notice of case filing will be served with papers by the Commission. It is the respondent’s responsibility to notify us if it wishes to designate another individual as primary/default contact person. However, an attorney or representative filing the complaint on behalf of a party is presumed to be appearing on the filing party’s behalf.

I am aware that this represents a significant procedural change. Please contact me at CCallahan@perc.wa.gov or at (360) 570-7312 if you have questions about this or thoughts or suggestions on other issues.

Cathy