Board of County Supervisors

Labor Relations Administrator

Collective Bargaining Ordinance

The Prince William County Collective Bargaining Ordinance (“CBO”) sets forth a framework that allows certain County employees the right to organize, form, join, or assist Labor Organizations, to bargain collectively through an Exclusive Representative of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining over Terms and Conditions of Employment or other mutual aid or protection, and also the right to refrain from any or all such activities.

Labor Relations Administrator

The Labor Relations Administrator (“LRA”) is an experienced neutral in the field of labor relations who serves as a neutral administrator, fact-finder, and mediator. The LRA is responsible for the process for certification and decertification of Exclusive Representatives, investigation of unfair labor practices charges, and assisting with the selection of mediators or arbitrators as needs arise under the CBO or under any collective bargaining agreements.

Bargaining Units

The CBO permits the following three bargaining units:

Police: the Police Bargaining Unit shall consist of uniformed, sworn law enforcement officers employed by the County, but excluding those eligible for the Fire and Rescue Bargaining Unit, civilian employees, public safety communication employees, and those excluded in Section 2-209 of the CBO.

Fire and Rescue: The Fire and Rescue Bargaining Unit shall consist of the uniformed, sworn fire and rescue employees employed by the County, but excluding those eligible for the Police Bargaining Unit, civilian employees, public safety communication employees, and those excluded in Section 2-209 of the CBO.

General Services Employees: The General Services Employees Bargaining Unit shall consist of those employees employed by the County, excluding employees eligible for the Police and Fire and Rescue Bargaining Units and those employees excluded in Section 2-209 of the CBO.

Section 2-209 excludes the following employees from bargaining units: confidential employees, managerial employees, supervisory employees, interns or volunteers, and/or any County-funded, full-time equivalent position embedded in a state, constitutional, or other department, agency, or office exempt from the competitive service. Employees whose job duties require access to confidential, budgetary, or fiscal information, personnel data, management emails or strategy relevant to subjects of collective bargaining or employees in any department who assist in a confidential capacity or persons who formulate, determine, or effectuate management policies in the field of labor relations are considered confidential. Confidential employees include but are not limited to employees who work in or for: the Board of County Supervisors – including any staff assigned or budgeted to a Board member’s office; the Office of the County Executive; the Office of the County Attorney; the Office of Human Resources, the Department of Information Technology, or any other department, office, agency, or position in which an employee has authorized access to confidential County personnel information; the Office of Management and Budget; and the Payroll Office in the Department of Finance.

Petitions & Secret Ballot Elections

A Labor Organization may submit a petition to request certification as the exclusive bargaining representative for a bargaining unit to the LRA and the County’s Director of Human Resources, along with a showing of interest demonstrating at least 30% of the eligible bargaining unit employees seek to be represented for the purpose of collective bargaining by the Labor Organization. Upon receipt, the LRA will follow the processes set forth in the CBO and the LRA Procedures Related to the Administration of the Collective Bargaining Ordinance (“LRA Procedures”) to verify the showing of interest and oversee a secret ballot election. If a Labor Organization receives the majority of the valid votes cast in the election, it shall be certified by the LRA and recognized by the County as the Exclusive Representative of the bargaining unit.

Employee Rights

Per Section 2-210 of the CBO, employees shall have the right to organize, form, join, or assist Labor Organizations, to bargain collectively through an Exclusive Representative of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining over Terms and Conditions of Employment or other mutual aid or protection, and shall also have the right to refrain from any or all such activities. However, refraining from any or all such activities does not include the right to be excluded from coverage by the terms and conditions of a collective bargaining agreement applicable to a Bargaining Unit.

Employees shall have the right to discuss their rights in the paragraph above with each other while on duty, provided that such communications do not materially interfere with the employee’s job duties.

Employees shall have the right to use County email systems to discuss their rights in the paragraph above, subject to the terms of any collective bargaining agreement and the County’s Department of Information Technology email security policies. Records in the County’s email systems are subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and, as such, employee communications on County systems are not considered private.

Employees have the right to be represented fairly by their Exclusive Representative in the handling of employee grievances and the conduct of Collective Bargaining.

Nothing in this Section shall prohibit an employee from presenting, discussing, or resolving any personnel matter directly with the County and without the intervention of an Exclusive Representative, provided that any adjustment of the matter between an employee and the County without participation of the Exclusive Representative shall not be inconsistent with the terms of any applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Exclusive Representative Rights and County and Board of County Supervisor Rights

The Exclusive Representative Rights are found in Section 2-211 of the CBO.

The County and Board of County Supervisor Rights are found in Section 2-212 of the CBO.

Contact

LRA Sarah Miller Espinosa [email protected]

Documents

LRA Decisions

LRA Notices