The First Appellate District affirmed in part and reversed in part a judgment. In the published portion of its opinion, the court held that a superior court violated both the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act and its own personnel policies when it made the decision impairing the seniority rights of court employees within one bargaining unit based solely on a memorandum of understanding reached with a different bargaining unit.
For the 2009-2010 year, the Alameda County Superior Court experienced an almost $6 million reduction in budget. Effective June 26, 2009, the superior court implemented a significant reduction in force. It laid off 72 employees. Twenty-eight of these were in a bargaining unit represented by the Alameda County Management Employees Association (ACMEA); 37 were in a bargaining unit represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 (SEIU); and seven were unrepresented. The individuals selected for layoff from the ACMEA positions were those with the least court-wide seniority in the classifications selected for layoff.
