71601
. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Appointment" means the offer to and acceptance by a person of
a position in the trial court in accordance with this chapter and
the trial court's personnel policies, procedures, and plans.
(b) "Employee organization" means either of the following:
(1) Any organization that includes trial court employees and has
as one of its primary purposes representing those employees in their
relations with that trial court.
(2) Any organization that seeks to represent trial court employees
in their relations with that trial court.
(c) "Hiring" means appointment as defined in subdivision (a).
(d) "Mediation" means effort by an impartial third party to assist
in reconciling a dispute regarding wages, hours, and other terms and
conditions of employment between representatives of the trial court
and the recognized employee organization or recognized employee
organizations through interpretation, suggestion, and advice.
(e) "Meet and confer in good faith" means that a trial court or
representatives as it may designate, and representatives of
recognized employee organizations, shall have the mutual obligation
personally to meet and confer promptly upon request by either party
and continue for a reasonable period of time in order to exchange
freely information, opinions, and proposals, and to endeavor to reach
agreement on matters within the scope of representation. The process
should include adequate time for the resolution of impasses where
specific procedures for resolution are contained in this chapter or
in a local rule, or when the procedures are utilized by mutual
consent.
(f) "Personnel rules," "personnel policies, procedures, and plans,"
and "rules and regulations" mean policies, procedures, plans, rules,
or regulations adopted by a trial court or its designee pertaining
to conditions of employment of trial court employees, subject to meet
and confer in good faith.
(g) "Promotion" means promotion within the trial court as defined
in the trial court's personnel policies, procedures, and plans,
subject to meet and confer in good faith.
(h) "Recognized employee organization" means an employee
organization that has been formally acknowledged to represent trial
court employees by the county under Sections 3500 to 3510, inclusive,
prior to the implementation date of this chapter, or by the trial
court under former Rules 2201 to 2210, inclusive, of the California
Rules of Court, as those rules read on April 23, 1997, Sections 70210
to 70219, inclusive, or Article 3 (commencing with Section 71630).
(i) "Subordinate judicial officer" means an officer appointed to
perform subordinate judicial duties as authorized by Section 22 of
Article VI of the California Constitution, including, but not limited
to, a court commissioner, probate commissioner, child support
commissioner, referee, traffic referee, juvenile court referee, and
juvenile hearing officer.
(j) "Transfer" means transfer within the trial court as defined in
the trial court's personnel policies, procedures, and plans, subject
to meet and confer in good faith.
(k) "Trial court" means a superior court.
(l) "Trial court employee" means a person who is both of the
following:
(1) Paid from the trial court's budget, regardless of the funding
source. For the purpose of this paragraph, "trial court's budget"
means funds from which the presiding judge of a trial court, or his
or her designee, has authority to control, authorize, and direct
expenditures, including, but not limited to, local revenues, all
grant funds, and trial court operations funds.
(2) Subject to the trial court's right to control the manner and
means of his or her work because of the trial court's authority to
hire, supervise, discipline, and terminate employment. For purposes
of this paragraph only, the "trial court" includes the judges of a
trial court or their appointees who are vested with or delegated the
authority to hire, supervise, discipline, and terminate.
(m) A person is a "trial court employee" if and only if both
paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (l) are true irrespective of
job classification or whether the functions performed by that person
are identified in Rule 10.810 of the California Rules of Court.
"Trial court employee" includes those subordinate judicial officers
who satisfy paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (l). The phrase
"trial court employee" does not include temporary employees hired
through agencies, jurors, individuals hired by the trial court
pursuant to an independent contractor agreement, individuals for whom
the county or trial court reports income to the Internal Revenue
Service on a Form 1099 and does not withhold employment taxes,
sheriffs, temporary judges, and judges whether elected or appointed.
Any temporary employee, whether hired through an agency or not, shall
not be employed in the trial court for a period exceeding 180
calendar days, except that for court reporters in a county of the
first class, a trial court and a recognized employee organization may
provide otherwise by mutual agreement in a memorandum of
understanding or other agreement.