Alameda County Management Employees Ass'n v. Superior Court

Facing a multimillion-dollar budget reduction for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the Superior Court of Alameda County (the Court) implemented a reduction in force. Among those laid off were a number of members of appellant Alameda County Management Employees Association (ACMEA), a labor organization representing certain Court employees in managerial classifications. After being notified of the impending action, a number of ACMEA members selected for layoff invoked the seniority provisions of the Court’s personnel policies and requested demotions or transfers to lower paying classifications in which they had previously held tenure. Although these employees’ seniority would have entitled them to demotions under the Court’s personnel policies, in all but two instances, the Court denied their requests, citing the definition of seniority contained in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) it had negotiated with another union. The Court determined that the seniority definition contained in the MOU applied to ACMEA’s members and that under that definition, they could not exercise the demotion rights they would otherwise have enjoyed under the Court’s personnel policies. In addition,…