The bill undermining settlement of grievances under a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) continues to move through the Senate and may get scheduled for a floor vote.

SB 5503 was voted out of the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee on February 21, with amendments that remove the 10-day deadline for enforcement of employer provided names and addresses and the accompanying presumption that failure to provide such information means the threshold for interest was met. It also makes a technical fix to setting hearing dates and subpoenas.

The bill is now in the Senate Rules Committee waiting to be scheduled for a floor vote.

The amendments do not address AWC’s strong concerns about the bill’s prohibition against public employers from requiring a worker to waive their statutory rights to sue their employer as a condition of a grievance settlement. This provision undermines settlements of CBA grievance disputes by disincentivizing settlements and making grievance proceedings more costly for all parties involved. Currently, parties can negotiate to bar additional claims as part of a CBA grievance settlement.

AWC urges cities to reach out to their Senators and let them know they should not pass SB 5503 with this provision. Cities can let their Senators know:

• Cities will be forced to bear the costs of defending needless additional claims brought by employees – claims that could have been barred when an employee already agreed to a negotiated settlement of a grievance under a CBA.
• The provision is a strong disincentive for public employers to settle under a CBA grievance process. Not only would a settlement no longer be the end of a dispute, but the fact of the settlement itself could be used against the public employer in a later proceeding in certain ways.
• Disincentivizing grievance settlements will result in more time, costs, and uncertainty for all parties involved in a grievance case.
• This provision is inconsistent with the rest of the bill’s contents. If not for the provision undermining grievance settlements (currently Section 4 of the substitute bill), cities would be neutral on the bill.

Plan to reorganize how bargaining units are formed also impacts ability to settle grievances

February 7, 2025

A bill laying out new rules for forming public sector bargaining units is scheduled for a hearing this week. AWC is neutral on most of the bill, except for one concerning aspect that could impact the ability to settle grievances.

SB 5503 is sponsored by Sen. Javier Valdez (D–Seattle). The bulk of the bill address the formation of new bargaining units, and how the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) should address petitions to form new bargaining unit, determine the appropriateness of a proposed unit or whether it should be consolidated with an existing bargaining unit, and establishing a 10 day deadline for employers to submit names and addresses of challenged employees during the formation of a new bargaining unit. If an employer does not meet the deadline, they have until 14 days prior to a union election to show the threshold for interest in forming a unit was not met.

The bill also sets out how PERC hearings officers can set their own dates for hearings, and what inferences they can draw from a refusal to comply with a PERC subpoena.

Importantly for cities, the last section of the bill also prohibits public employers from requiring a worker to waive statutory rights to sue as a condition of settling a grievance under a collective bargaining agreement.

AWC is neutral on the aspects of the bill laying out the process for creating and determining appropriateness of bargaining units and PERC hearings officers management of hearings. However, AWC is opposed to the provision prohibiting settlements from including a waiver of additional claims. Not only will this provision result in extra costs as cities are forced to defend additional claims for a matter that should have been decided under a CBA, it also provides a disincentive for a city to settle a grievance if the settlement is no longer the end of a disciplinary dispute. This results in more time, costs, and uncertainty for all parties involved in a grievance case. AWC will make sure these concerns are heard at the bill’s hearing.

Dates to remember

HB 5503 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee on February 11 at 10:30 am.