CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL PEACE OFFICERS'ASSN. v. State of California

—The California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association (CCPOA) brings a statutory claim, contending that the State of California (the State), through the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA), violated Government Code section 19849.18 when DPA refused to grant correctional supervisors of State Bargaining Unit Six (Unit 6) the same increases granted to the rank-and-file correctional officers they supervise. We disagree, and affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

CCPOA represents certain correctional supervisors of Unit 6 along with a large number of rank-and-file correctional employees (hereafter sometimes also referred to as the rank-and-file members). This appeal is brought on behalf of the organization and the correctional supervisors of Unit 6 (supervisors or correctional supervisors) it represents.

DPA is the agency charged with setting compensation for both the supervisory correctional officers and the rank-and-file correctional officers of Unit 6. (§ 19826, subd. (a); Tirapelle v. Davis (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 1317 , 1322-1323 & fn. 8, 1325-1326 [ 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 666 ] (Tirapelle)-, §§ 3513, subd. (j), 19815.4, subd. (g).)

In May, August and September 2006,…