State of California (Department of Personnel Administration) (PERB A359S)

STATE OF CALIFORNIA
DECISION OF THE
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD
AFSCME LOCAL 2620,
Charging Party,
v.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA (DEPARTMENT OF
PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION),
Respondent.
Case No. SF-CE-230-S
Administrative Appeal
PERB Order No. 	A d - 3 5 9 - S
F e b r u a r y 	2 2 , 	2007
Appearance: 	Jennifer M. Garten, Legal Counsel, for State of California (Department of
Personnel Administration).
Before Duncan, Chairman; Shek and McKeag, Members.
DECISION
DUNCAN, Chairman: 	The State of California (Department of Personnel
Administration) (DPA) requests special permission, pursuant to Public Employment Relations
Board (PERB or Board) Regulation 32155(d),1 to appeal the refusal of an administrative law
judge (ALJ) to disqualify himself from presiding over an administrative hearing.
PERB regulations are codified at California Code of Regulations, title 8,
section 31001, et seq. PERB Regulation 32155(d) provides:
If the Board agent does not disqualify himself or herself and
withdraw from the proceeding, he or she shall so rule on the
record, state the grounds for the ruling, and proceed with the
hearing or investigation and the issuance of the decision. The
party requesting the disqualification may, within ten days, file
with the Board itself a request for special permission to appeal
the ruling of the Board agent. 	If permission is not granted, the
party requesting disqualification may file an appeal, after hearing
or investigation and issuance of the decision, setting forth the
grounds of the alleged disqualification along with any other
exceptions to the decision on its merits.

PERB Regulation 32155(d) is intended to permit the Board to grant immediate
interlocutory appeal of a Board agent's refusal to disqualify him or herself whenever the Board
determines that permitting such an immediate appeal would effectuate the purposes of the
Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act).2 (Gonzales Union High School District (1984) PERB Decision
No. 379.) Where such special permission to appeal is denied, the moving party is free to
reassert its arguments concerning disqualification in its exceptions, if any, to the ALJ's
proposed decision.
We have reviewed DPA's request for special permission, including its grounds for
urging disqualification of the ALJ, and we find that it would not effectuate the purposes of the
Dills Act to grant interlocutory review.
ORDER
The request for special permission to appeal its motion for disqualification of an
administrative law judge by the State of California (Department of Personnel Administration)
in Case No. SF-CE-230-S is DENIED.
Members Shek and McKeag joined in this Decision.
2The Dills Act is codified at Government Code section 3512, et seq.
2