International Ass'n of Firefighters v. City of San Jose

I. INTRODUCTION

These appeals arise from a labor dispute between the City of San Jose (City) and the International Association of Firefighters, Local 230 (Union), which represents the firefighters employed by the City. After the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act (Gov. Code, §§ 3250-3262; FFBOR) 1 became effective in 2008, the Union requested that the City meet and confer over the implementation of the FFBOR’s new procedures for administrative appeals of firefighter discipline. The City refused to meet and confer on the ground that, as a charter city, it was not obligated to implement the FFBOR.

*1185 The Union then filed a petition for a writ of mandate and to compel arbitration of the dispute regarding the City’s obligation to meet and confer over the implementation of the FFBOR. The City opposed the petition and filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, in which it argued that under the home rule provisions of California Constitution, article XI, section 5, it was not. required to implement the FFBOR’s procedures for administrative appeals in firefighter disciplinary proceedings because the FFBOR’s procedures conflicted with the City’s existing…