PERB Affirms Public Employees’ Right to Wear Union Logo at Work
October 27, 2014 by Vishtasp Soroushian
The Public Employment Relations Board recently gave a thumbs up to employees of Sacramento County’s Aircraft Rescue & Firefighting Division (ARFF) who wore uniforms and other clothing displaying their union’s insignia while on duty despite an agency policy prohibiting union insignia on such apparel. The recent ruling expanded the protected right of union employees to wear pins and buttons as part of established labor law for public employees.
ARFF employees wear either Class A or Class B uniforms, and some employees wore union insignia on their Class B uniform tee-shirts and other clothing, such as caps and sweatpants. Class A uniforms include dress or formal wear when representing the employer to the public, and Class B uniforms are worn on other occasions, including when employees respond to emergency calls. ARFF employees usually wore the union logo tee-shirt under a long-sleeved, button-down Class B uniform shirt, but at times wore the tee-shirt on its own, such as when performing outside training drills. The public rarely saw the apparel bearing the union’s insignia.
In finding that the County’s rule violated the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), the Board recognized the general rule that wearing union buttons or pins is a protected employee right absent special circumstances, such as when the union insignia could jeopardize employee safety, damage machinery or product, exacerbate employee dissension, or cause distraction from work demanding great concentration. The Board then rejected the County’s argument that firefighters “have no statutorily guaranteed right to wear uniform apparel bearing [their union’s] logo.” PERB explained that the fundamental right to wear union insignia is not limited to buttons or pins, but extends to articles of clothing as well. PERB also rejected the argument that this right did not extend to uniformed, public safety employees.
The County made no attempt to demonstrate special circumstance justifying its rule, and the Board noted that the County’s failure to offer special circumstances justifying its policy was “likely best explained by the absence of any conceivable special circumstances on which to base such a defense.”
The decision here is noteworthy because it is the first by PERB extending its rule on wearing union insignia at work to uniformed, public-safety employees. Beeson, Tayer, & Bodine is a long established California-based employment and labor law firm with offices in Oakland and Sacramento. To follow other recent rulings and cases defending the rights of unions and employees visit our website and request our newsletter on labor topics.
The case is Sacramento Area Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 522 v. County of Sacramento (2014) PERB Decision No. 2393-M, issued October 16, 2014.
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