Litigation

Legal Update: Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employment Relations Board

Legal Update: Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employment Relations Board

Last month, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision in Visalia Unified School District v. Public Employees Relations Board, impacting personnel disputes in school districts throughout California. This is a must-read for all California school district HR directors. Overview: Despite finding that a school district’s decision to fire the union chapter president was retaliatory,...

By Julie Hamill

Legal Update on Cayla J. v. State of California

Legal Update on Cayla J. v. State of California

On February 1, Public Counsel announced settlement of Cayla J. v. State of California, Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG20084386. The LA Times explains the settlement in further detail. Nutshell California’s pandemic policies harmed children, especially minority students in low-income areas. The settlement includes a promise by State government defendants to propose legislation reallocating resources toward helping students most...

By Julie Hamill

Response to Court Temporarily Delaying Parental Notification Policy in Chino Valley Unified School District

Response to Court Temporarily Delaying Parental Notification Policy in Chino Valley Unified School District

SAN BERNARDINO —  State Attorney General Rob Bonta has declared war on California parents and local school boards. After school boards across the state adopted a Parental Notification Policy, Bonta filed a motion to prevent the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) from implementing the policy approved by the school board in July. A San...

By California Policy Center

CPC Asks State Bar to Investigate Attorney General Bonta for Misrepresenting Law to Intimidate School Board

CPC Asks State Bar to Investigate Attorney General Bonta for Misrepresenting Law to Intimidate School Board

The California Policy Center has asked the State Bar to investigate California Attorney General Rob Bonta for making false statements in an effort to intimidate Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) trustees. CPC asserts that, in his letters and statements, Bonta misrepresented Department of Education guidance as binding law, and misrepresented federal law.  The complaint...

By California Policy Center

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

In an important ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unions can be sued in state court for damages if striking workers intentionally destroy their employer’s property. The decision is a victory for employers that puts unions on notice that there are consequences for their reckless actions during strikes. In Glacier Northwest v....

By Houston Reese

Bounty Hunter Provision Drives CA Civil Rights Dept. Strategy that Hurts Workers & Drives Businesses Out of State

Bounty Hunter Provision Drives CA Civil Rights Dept. Strategy that Hurts Workers & Drives Businesses Out of State

SACRAMENTO —  A California Policy Center report released today reveals that financial incentives allowing California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) to fund its budget through attorney fees has created a monster. Today’s CRD has turned into a litigious bully that steps over plaintiff workers and strong arms companies for the department’s own financial gain — and civil...

By California Policy Center

Huntington Beach’s Lawsuit Challenges Newsom’s Housing Mandates

Huntington Beach’s Lawsuit Challenges Newsom’s Housing Mandates

We’ve seen Gov. Gavin Newsom impose questionable — even dangerous and illegal — policies by declaring states of emergency or merely “crisis” with regard to Covid, climate and energy. He’s done it again on the issue of housing. The problems of housing affordability and homelessness constitute a crisis so compelling, the governor says, that they...

By Will Swaim

CPC Files Amicus Brief to Defend the People’s Right to a Ballot Initiative in California

CPC Files Amicus Brief to Defend the People’s Right to a Ballot Initiative in California

California Policy Center filed an amicus brief in Castellanos v. California, detailing the flaws in the ruling and urging the appellate court to reverse the trial court decision and restore the people’s will on Proposition 22. CPC is also launching Democracy for All, a new coalition of pro-democracy groups working to protect direct democracy and...

By California Policy Center

OC Board of Education Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction to End Governor Newsom’s State of Emergency

OC Board of Education Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction to End Governor Newsom’s State of Emergency

Yesterday, the Orange County Board of Education, along with Children’s Health Defense, filed a motion for preliminary injunction against Governor Newsom, requesting that the court “order the Governor to terminate the COVID-19 state of emergency.” The document noted Gavin Newsom’s attendance at the NFC Championship game at Sofi Stadium, where during some parts of the...

By California Policy Center

CPC’s Letter of Support for AB 1484

CPC’s Letter of Support for AB 1484

RE: AB 1484 – SUPPORT  Dear Assemblymember Kiley: The California Policy Center is pleased to support Assembly Bill 1484 to bring California law into compliance with a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States and ensure public school employees are freely able to consent or decline union membership. On June 27, 2018,...

By Lance Christensen

Michigan v. DeVos Amicus Brief

Michigan v. DeVos Amicus Brief

The California Policy Center (CPC) has joined as local counsel on litigation over CARES Act relief for private schools. CPC joins a coalition of around 40 state and national groups led by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) advocating for private schools. CPC signed onto an amicus brief Wednesday in Michigan v. DeVos, a legal...

By Jackson Reese

Barke et al. v. Banks et al.

Barke et al. v. Banks et al.

Tustin – February 24, 2020 CPC, CIR FILE CHALLENGE TO CALIFORNIA GAG RULE The Center for Individual Rights and the California Policy Center have filed suit challenging a California law that prohibits public employers (including elected officials) from making statements that might “deter or discourage” public employees or applicants from membership in a public employee union....

By Jackson Reese

Jackson v. Napolitano

Jackson v. Napolitano

San Diego – July 30, 2019 It boils down to two things. Employees can’t be forced to pay a union to work in public service, and the state can’t withhold information from employees about their constitutional rights. That’s what two University of California employees argue in a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against state officials and Teamsters Local 2010....

By Jackson Reese

Sweet v. CAPT

Sweet v. CAPT

Background Alfred Sweet is a psychiatric technician at Atascadero State Hospital in Paso Robles. Sweet joined the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians when he started working at the hospital in 2011 and began making requests to resign and become an agency fee payer in 2014. Those requests were denied. After the Janus decision, Sweet submitted...

By Jackson Reese