2.76.030 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated in this section:
1. “Appropriate unit” means a unit established pursuant to Section 2.76.100.
2. “City” means the city of Bakersfield, a municipal corporation, and where appropriate in this chapter, “city” refers to the city council, the governing body of the city, or any duly authorized management employee as defined in this chapter.
3. “City’s designated representative” means that person or persons designated by the council to consult, meet and confer, as provided for in this chapter.
4. “Consult or consultation” means to communicate orally or in writing for the purpose of presenting and obtaining views or advising of intended actions.
5. “Employee” means any person regularly employed by the city in a probationary or permanent position.
6. “Employee, confidential” means an employee who is privy to decisions of city management affecting employer-employee relations.
7. “Employee, executive” means any employee having significant responsibilities for formulating or administering city policies and programs, including, but not limited to, the city manager, department heads, and such of their principal subordinates as are so designated by the city’s designated authority based upon the recommendation of the city manager or department head concerned.
8. “Employee, management” means an executive employee or a supervisory management employee.
9. “Employee organization” means any organization which includes employees of the city and which has as one of its primary purposes representing such employees in their employment relations with the city.
10. “Employee, professional” means employees engaged in work requiring specialized knowledge and skills attained through completion of a recognized course of instruction, including, but not limited to, attorneys, engineers, architects, and various types of physical, chemical and biological scientists.
11. “Employee supervisory management” means any employee having authority to recommend the transfer, suspension, layoff, recall, promotion, discharge, assignment, adjustment of grievances or discipline of other employees, or having the responsibility to direct them if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. In order to differentiate leadmen, foremen and supervisory management employees, the allocation of classes to supervisory management categories for the purpose of assignment to supervisory management shall be contingent on meeting both of the following minimum criteria:
1. Employees in the class should perform a variety of the supervisory tasks listed above in this subsection, but these tasks must include:
a. Assigning work to subordinate employees;
b. Reviewing the work of subordinate employees;
c. Evaluating the performance of subordinates, when required under any program of employee performance evaluation; and
d. The authority to recommend the adjustment of grievances.
2. No class shall be allocated to a supervisory management category unless the job duties of a majority of the positions therein:
a. Require the incumbent to spend a minimum of fifteen percent of his time engaged in performing the supervisory duties listed in subdivision 1 of this subsection;
b. Are such that the incumbent does not engage in work similar to that of his subordinates more than seventy-five percent of his time.
12. “Employer-employee relations” means the relationship between the city and its employees and their employee organization, or when used in a general sense, the relationship between city management and employees or employee organizations.
13. “Grievance” means any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of this chapter or of rules and regulations governing personnel practices or working conditions; however, it does not concern the contents of the chapter, rules, or regulations. Grievance procedures are set forth in Section 2.76.140;
14. “Impasse” means:
a. A deadlock in the discussions between a majority representative and the city over any matters concerning which they are required to meet and confer in good faith, or over the scope of such subject matter; or
b. Any unresolved complaint by an affected employee organization, advanced in good faith, concerning a decision of the “city’s designated authority” made pursuant to Sections 2.76.090 or 2.76.110.
15. “Majority exclusive representative” means an employee organization, or its duly authorized representative, that has been granted formal recognition by the city as representing the majority of employees in an appropriate unit.
16. “Mediation or conciliation” means the efforts of an impartial third person, or persons, functioning as intermediaries, to assist the parties in reaching a voluntary resolution to an impasse, through interpretation, suggestion, determining the facts and advice. Mediation and conciliation are interchangeable terms.
17. “Meet and confer in good faith”, sometimes referred to in this chapter as “meet and confer” or “meeting and conferring”, means performance by duly authorized city representatives and duly authorized representatives of any employee organization recognized as the majority representative of their mutual obligation to meet at reasonable times and to confer in good faith regarding matters within the scope of representation, including wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, in an effort to:
a. Reach agreement on those matters within the authority of such representatives; and
b. Reach agreement on what will be recommended to the city council on those matters within the decision-making authority of the city council.
Meet and confer in good faith involves an exchange of ideas, but does not require either party to agree to a proposal or to make a concession.
18. “Memorandum of understanding” means a nonbinding written summary of the understanding reached as a result of the meeting and conferring process to be signed by the city’s designated authority and the representative of the employee organization.
19. “Ordinance” means, unless the context indicates otherwise, the employer-employee relations ordinance of the city.
20. “Peace officer” has the meaning as this term is defined in Section 830, California Penal Code.
21. “Recognized employee organizations” means an employee organization which has been acknowledged by the city’s designated authority as an employee organization that represents employees of the city. The rights accompanying recognition are: formal exclusive recognition, which is the right to meet and confer in good faith as the majority representative in an appropriate unit.
22. “Scope of representation” means all matters relating to employment conditions and employer-employee relations, including, but not limited to, wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, except, however, that the scope of representation shall not include consideration of the necessity for, or organizational structure of any service or activity provided by law. City rights, set out in Section 2.76.050, and employee rights, set out in Section 2.76.040 are excluded from the scope of representation (Prior code § 3.16.030)