Los Angeles Unified School District (Service Employees International Union Local 99) (PERB A247E)

STATE
	OF
	CALIFORNIA
DECISION
	OF
	THE
PUBLIC
	EMPLOYMENT
	RELATIONS
	BOARD
LOS
	ANGELES
	CITY
	AND
	COUNTY
SCHOOL 	EMPLOYEES
	UNION,
	LOCAL
	99,
SERVICE
	EMPLOYEES
	INTERNATIONAL
UNION,
	AFL-CIO,
Charging
	Party,
v.
LOS
	ANGELES
	UNIFIED
	SCHOOL
	DISTRICT,
Respondent.
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___________________ )
Case
	No. 	LA-CE-3121
Administrative
	Appeal
PERB
	Order
	No. 	Ad-247
September
	3, 	1993
Appearances:	
Taylor,
	Roth,
	Bush 	&	
Geffner
	by
	Hope
	J., Singer,
Attorney,
	for
	Los
	Angeles
	City
	and
	County
	School
	Employees
	Union,
Local 	99,
	Service
	Employees
	International
	Union,
	AFL-CIO;
O'Melveny	
& Myers
	by 	Lonnie 	Kocontes,
	Attorney,
	for
	Los
	Angeles
Unified
	School
	District.
Before 	Caffrey, 	Carlyle,
	and
	Garcia,
	Members.
DECISION
CAFFREY,
	Member:
	This 	case
	is
	before 	the 	Public
	Employment
Relations
	Board
	(PERB
	or
	Board) 	on 	a
	motion
	filed
	by
	the
Los
	Angeles
	City
	and 	County
	School
	Employees 	Union, 	Local 	99,
Service
	Employees
	International
	Union, 	AFL-CIO 	(SEIU)
	to
	excuse
the
	late 	filing
	of 	exceptions
	to
	a
	PERB
	administrative
	law
judge's
	(ALJ)
	proposed
	decision 	in
	Case 	No. 	LA-CE-3121.
BACKGROUND
The
	ALJ's 	proposed
	decision
	was
	served
	on
	the
	parties,
including
	SEIU, 	on May
	26, 	1993. 	The
	decision
	was
	covered 	by
PERB's
	standard 	transmittal 	letter
	from
	the 	Chief
	ALJ, 	which
describes 	the 	Board 1 s
	processes 	and 	deadlines 	for 	filing
exceptions 	and 	requests 	for 	extensions 	of 	time.

Including 	the
	20-day
	period 	for
	the
	filing
	of 	exceptions
	and
the
	five-day
	mailing
	provisions
	of
	Code
	of
	Civil
	Procedure
section
	1013,
	exceptions
	were 	due
	to
	be
	filed
	in
	this
	case
	no
later
	than
	June
	21, 	1993.
On
	June
	23, 	1993,
	counsel
	for
	SEIU
	contacted
	PERB's
	appeals
assistant
	to
	clarify
	the 	deadline
	for
	the
	filing
	of
	exceptions.
After 	being
	informed
	that
	the 	deadline
	had
	already
	passed, 	SEIU's
counsel
	indicated 	in
	a
	June
	24, 	1993,
	letter
	their
	intention
	to
file
	a
	motion
	to
	receive 	exceptions 	with 	the
	Board.
SEIU's 	motion
	to
	receive 	exceptions	
was	
received
	in
	PERB's
headquarters
	office
	on
	July
	1,
	1993.
	In
	it,
	SEIU
	argues
	that
under
	PERB
	Regulation
	32136,
1	
good
	cause
	exists 	to
	excuse
	the
late
	filing
	of 	exceptions
	to 	the
	ALJ's 	proposed
	decision.
SEIU
	asserts 	that
	the 	standard 	for 	establishing
	good
	cause
has
	been
	met
	in
	this
	case 	because 	an 	excusable
	error
	has 	been
made,
	which
	is
	nonprejudicial 	to
	the
	opposing
	party,
	and
	the
resulting
	delay
	has 	been
	brief.
	SEIU
	explains
	that
	the
	error
resulted
	from
	counsel's
	"mistaken
	belief" 	that
	30
	days
	is
	allowed
for 	the 	filing
	of 	exceptions,
	rather
	than
	20
	days. 	Counsel
further 	declares 	that
	the
	error 	resulted
	from 	"a mistaken 	review
of 	the
	PERB
	Rules 	and
	Regulations."
1PERB
	regulations 	are 	codified at 	California
	Code
	of
Regulations,
	title
	8,
	section
	31001
	et
	seq. 	Regulation
	32136
states:
A
late 	filing
	may
	be 	excused 	in 	the 	discretion 	of
the 	Board 	for 	good 	cause 	only.
	A
late 	filing
which 	has 	been 	excused 	becomes 	a
	timely 	filing
under 	these 	regulations.
2 	Ii
'i
l
l
l

DISCUSSION
When
	the
	Board
	has
	found
	good
	cause
	to
	excuse
	late 	filings,
the 	cases
	typically
	have
	involved
	inadvertent
	clerical 	errors
associated
	with
	an
	actual
	attempt
	to
	timely
	file.
	(See
	North
Orange 	County
	Regional 	Occupational
	Program
	(1990)
	PERB
	Decision
No.
	807;
	The
	Regents
	of 	the 	University
	of
	California
	(Davis,
Los
	Angeles, 	Santa 	Barbara
	and
	San 	Diego)
	(1989)
	PERB
	Order
No.
	Ad-202-H;
	Trustees
	of
	California 	State
	University
	(1989)
	PERB
Order
	No.
	Ad-192-H.)
In
	this
	case, 	counsel
	for
	SEIU made
	no
	attempt
	to
	file
	or 	to
clarify
	the
	filing
	deadline
	until
	June
	23, 	1993,
	after
	the
deadline
	had
	passed.
	The
	Chief 	ALJ's
	transmittal
	letter
accompanying
	the
	proposed
	decision 	explains 	the 	process
	for
filing
	exceptions
	to 	the
	proposed
	decision.
	The
	deadlines
	for
filing
	exceptions
	and
	requests 	for 	extensions 	of
	time
	are
prominent
	and 	key
	elements 	of
	the 	inforrr~tion 	included
	in 	the
letter.
	The
	failure
	of 	counsel
	to
	review
	PERB
	materials
	relative
to
	filing
	deadlines, 	resulting 	in
	no
	attempt
	to
	file
	prior 	to
	the
deadline,
	can 	not 	be
	considered
	good
	cause
	to
	excuse
	a
	late
filing.
ORDER
SEIU's 	motion
	to 	permit 	the
	late 	filing
	of 	exceptions
	in
Case 	No. 	LA-CE-3121
	is
	hereby
	DENIED.
Members
	Carlyle 	and Garcia 	joined 	in 	this 	Decision.
3 	I