Assemblymember Dickinson Introduces Public Employee’s Bill of Rights
Sacramento – Today, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) introduced Assembly Bill 1655. The bill would enact the Public Employee’s Bill of Rights Act to provide various rights and protections to non-excluded state civil service employees. The bill will be heard by the legislature in the coming months.
“Statutorily defining an employee’s rights will help ensure that essential working conditions are met, enhance and clarify the expectations of employees and management alike, and improve the working relationship between rank and file workers and state managers. In turn, these changes will result in improved worker productivity and more harmonious personnel relations,” said Assemblymember Dickinson.
Currently, state employee rights and working conditions may be bargained for and included within a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Unfortunately, not all bargained-for working conditions are uniformly enforced or understood across all departments and agencies, which can negatively impact employee morale and undermine expectations of public employees. As a result, employer–employee relations can be unsettled and unstable.
AB 1655 is modeled after the existing Peace Officer Procedural Bill of Rights, the Firefighter’s
