Huntington Beach Police Officers' Ass'n v. City of Huntington Beach

Plaintiff, Police Officers’ Association of Huntington Beach, sought a writ of mandate in the court below to compel the City of Huntington Beach, its councilmen and chief of police to reinstate a four-day, ten-hour-day work week schedule (“Ten-Plan”) for police personnel and to meet and confer in good faith with respect to any proposed changes in the schedule. Following hearing and submission of the matter on the petition, demurrer, answer, and memoranda of authorities, the court entered judgment directing issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate as prayed for by plaintiff. Defendants appeal from the judgment.

The pertinent facts are as follows:

The city is a charter city. Plaintiff is a recognized employee organization of the city. On July 26, 1971, a memorandum of agreement relating to wages, hours, and the terms and conditions of employment of personnel in the city police department was negotiated by plaintiff and the city pursuant to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (Gov. Code, ch. 10, div. 4, tit. 1; hereafter “MMB Act”) and an implementing “Employer-Employee Relations Resolution” (“EER Resolution”) previously adopted by the city council. Article XI of the memorandum of…