California Union of Safety Employees (John) (PERB A264S)

STATE
	OF
	CALIFORNIA
DECISION
	OF THE
PUBLIC
	EMPLOYMENT
	RELATIONS
	BOARD
CHRISTIAN 	JOHN,
Charging
	Party,
V.
CALIFORNIA UNION
	OF
	SAFETY
EMPLOYEES,
Respondent.
Case
	No.
	S-CO-128-S
Administrative
	Appeal
PERB
	Order
	No. 	Ad-264-S
January
	26,
	1995
Appearance: 	Robert
	Mccann,
	Attorney,
	for 	California
	Union
	of
Safety
	Employees.
Before
	Blair,
	Chair; 	Caffrey, 	Carlyle, 	Garcia
	and
	Johnson,
Members.
DECISION
BLAIR,
	Chair: 	This 	case
	is
	before 	the 	Public
	Employment
Relations
	Board
	(PERB
	or
	Board) 	on
	a
	petition, 	filed
	by
	the
California
	Union
	of 	Safety
	Employees
	(CAUSE),
	to 	accept
	its
untimely
	filed
	request 	for 	reconsideration
	of 	the 	Board's
decision 	in 	California
	Union
	of 	Safety
	Employees 	(John) 	(1994)
PERB
	Decision
	No.
	1064-S
	(CAUSE
	(John)).
BACKGROUND
The
	Board's 	decision 	in
	CAUSE
	(John) 	was
	issued
	and
	served
on
	the 	parties
	on 	November
	1, 	1994.
	PERB
	Regulation
	32410
1
1PERB
	regulations 	are 	codified 	at 	California
	Code
	of
Regulations,
	title
	8,
	section
	31001
	et
	seq. 	Regulation
	32410
states, 	in 	pertinent 	part:
(a) 	Any
	party 	to
	a
	decision 	of 	the
	Board
itself
	may,
	because 	of 	extraordinarycircumstances,
	file
	a
	request 	to 	reconsider
the 	decision 	within
	20 	days 	following 	the
date 	of 	service 	of 	the 	decision.

requires 	that 	a 	request 	for 	reconsideration 	be 	filed 	with 	the
Board 	within 	20 	days 	of 	service 	of 	the 	decision. 	Accordingly,
the 	filing 	deadline 	in 	this 	case 	was 	November 	21, 	1994. 	This
date 	was 	extended 	pursuant 	to 	PERB 	Regulation 	321302 which
provides 	a 	five-day 	extension 	for 	documents 	filed 	by 	mail, 	and 	an
extension 	to 	the 	next 	business 	day 	when 	the 	filing 	deadline 	falls
on 	a 	weekend 	or 	holiday. 	Consequently, 	a 	request 	for
reconsideration 	of 	CAUSE 	(John) 	was 	due 	to 	be 	filed 	with 	the
Board 	no 	later 	than 	November 	28, 	1994.
On 	December 	1, 	1994, 	CAUSE 	filed 	its 	request 	for
reconsideration 	and 	at 	the 	same 	time 	petitioned 	the 	Board 	to
accept 	its 	untimely 	filed 	reconsideration 	request.
CAUSE 	contends 	that 	good 	cause 	exists 	to 	excuse 	its 	late
filing 	asserting 	that 	it 	did 	not 	have 	an 	opportunity 	to 	prepare
its 	reconsideration 	request 	prior 	to 	the 	filing 	deadline 	''due 	to
2PERB 	Regulation 	32130 	states, 	in 	pertinent 	part:
(b) 	Except 	for 	filings 	required 	during 	a
"window period" 	as 	defined 	in 	sections 	33020,
40130 	or 	51026, 	whenever 	the 	last 	date 	to
file 	a 	document 	falls 	on 	Saturday, 	Sunday, 	or
a 	holiday, 	as 	defined 	in 	Government 	Code
sections 	6700 	and 	6701, 	or 	PERB 	offices 	are
closed, 	the 	time 	period 	for 	filing 	shall 	be
extended 	to 	and 	include 	the 	next 	regular 	PERB
business 	day. 	The 	extension 	of 	time 	provided
herein 	shall 	be 	applied 	subsequent 	to 	the
application 	of 	any 	other 	extension 	of 	time
provided 	by 	these 	regulations 	or by 	other
applicable 	law.
(c) 	The 	extension 	of 	time 	provided by
California 	Code 	of 	Civil 	Procedure 	section
1013, 	subdivision 	(a), 	shall 	apply 	to 	any
filing 	made 	in 	response 	to 	documents 	served
by 	mail.
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weekends,
	holidays,
	and
	office
	requirements
	to
	provide
	other
representational 	services 	to
	Bargaining 	Unit
	7
	members."
DISCUSSION
PERB
	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.
The
	Board
	has
	found
	good
	cause
	to
	excuse
	late
	filings 	in
cases
	where
	inadvertent
	clerical
	errors
	were
	associated
	with
	an
actual
	attempt
	to
	timely
	file.
	(See
	Trustees 	of
	California 	State
University
	(1989)
	PERE
	Order
	No.
	Ad-192-H;
	The
	Regents
	of
	the
University
	of
	California
	(Davis,
	Los
	Angeles,
	Santa 	Barbara
	and
San
	Diego)
	(1989)
	PERE
	Order
	No.
	Ad-202-H;
	North
	Orange
	County
Regional 	Occupational
	Program
	(1990)
	PERB
	Decision
	No.
	807.)
In 	University
	of
	California,
	Los
	Angeles
	(1992)
	PERB
Decision
	No.
	961,
	the
	Board 	found
	good
	cause
	to
	excuse
	a
	late
filing
	where, 	due
	to 	inadvertent
	clerical 	error,
	the 	appeal 	of
	a
Board
	decision
	served
	on
	the 	University
	was
	not 	processed
	in
accordance 	with
	normal
	office
	procedures,
	resulting 	in 	the
	late
filing
	of 	the 	University's
	response.
However,
	in
	Los
	Angeles
	Unified
	School
	District
	(1993)
	PERB
Order
	No.
	Ad-247,
	the
	Board
	held
	that 	the
	failure
	of 	counsel
	to
review
	PERB
	filing
	deadlines
	does 	not
	constitute
	good
	cause
	to
excuse
	a
	late 	filing.
In 	the 	present 	case,
	CAUSE
	contends 	good 	cause
	exists
because
	it
	did 	not 	have 	an 	opportunity 	to 	prepare
	its
reconsideration 	request 	prior 	to 	the 	filing 	deadline 	"due
	to
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weekends,
	holidays,
	and
	office
	requirements
	to
	provide
	other
representational 	services
	to
	Bargaining
	Unit
	7
	members."
CAUSE'S
	assertion
	of
	good
	cause
	is
	rejected.
	PERB
Regulation
	32132
3	
permits
	a
	party 	to
	request
	an
	extension 	of
	time
to
	file
	any
	document
	with
	the
	Board.
	Such
	a
	request
	must 	be
filed 	at 	least
	three
	days
	prior
	to
	the
	filing
	deadline.
	CAUSE
failed
	to 	request
	an
	extension 	of
	time
	to
	accommodate
	its
workload
	demands.
	Mere
	workload
	and
	holiday 	schedules
	do
	not
constitute
	good
	cause
	to
	excuse
	a
	late 	filing.
	Accordingly,
	the
Board
	rejects
	CAUSE's
	request 	to
	accept
	its
	late 	filed
	request
for 	reconsideration.
ORDER
The
	California
	Union
	of
	Safety
	Employees'
	petition 	to
	accept
its
	untimely
	filed
	request 	for 	reconsideration
	of 	the 	Board's
decision 	in 	California
	Union
	of 	Safety
	Employees 	(John) 	(1994)
PERB
	Decision
	No.
	1064-S
	is
	hereby
	DENIED.
Members
	Caffrey, 	Carlyle, 	Garcia
	and 	Johnson
	joined 	in
	this
Decision.
3PERB
	Regulation
	32132
	states, 	in 	pertinent 	part:
(a)
	A
request 	for
	an 	extension 	of 	time
	within
which
	to
	file
	any 	document
	with 	the
	Board
itself
	shall
	be
	in 	writing
	and
	shall
	be
	filed
at
	the 	headquarters 	office 	at 	least
	three
days
	before 	the 	expiration 	of 	the 	time
required 	for 	filing.
	The
	request 	shallindicate 	the 	reason 	for 	the 	request
	and,
	if
known,
	the 	position 	of 	each 	other 	partyregarding 	the 	extension. 	Service 	and 	proof
of 	service 	pursuant 	to 	section
	32140
	are
required. 	Extensions 	of 	time
	may
	be 	grantedby 	the 	Board
	itself
	or 	an 	agent 	designated 	by
the 	Board
	itself 	for
	good 	cause 	only.
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