Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Employer sues California Agricultural Labor Relations Board over mediation process, (Jan 3, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

According to the agricultural employer, the Board’s mandatory mediation and conciliation process “dictates a collective bargaining agreement without the approval of the employer and without submitting the ‘agreement’ to the workers for ratification.”

Wonderful Nurseries LLC, a producer of grapevines and trees for sale to commercial agricultural producers, which employs 688 full-time and seasonal agricultural employees, filed suit this week against California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), alleging that the mandatory mediation and conciliation process used by the Board violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Wonderful Nurseries alleges that it was compelled into mandatory mediation and conciliation based on a petition by the UFW filed in June 2024. This was enjoined by a state superior court based on the employer’s due process challenges, but that preliminary injunction was vacated pending appeal, the mediation process moved forward, and the ALRB could issue a final decision and order, the employer alleges, as early as the end of March.

Mandatory mediation. Under 2002 amendments to California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the ALRB may compel an employer with 25 or more agricultural employees into mandatory mediation and conciliation under certain circumstances following certification of a union. After selection of a mediator, the mediation will continue for 30 days, with an option for a mutually agreed-upon extension, but if the process does not resolve all issues to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, the mediator will certify that the process has been exhausted and has 21 days to file a report that establishes the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. The law further provides for Board review of the mediator’s report and appellate court review of the Board’s decisions.

Alleges constitutional violations. According to this lawsuit brought by Wonderful Nurseries, however, in the circumstances in which the mediator establishes the terms of the collective bargaining agreement after exhaustion of that process, the ALRB “dictates” the agreement “without the approval of the employer and without submitting the ‘agreement’ to the workers for ratification.” This, the employer contends, in turn, “entrenches the union by barring the right of employees to petition for a secret ballot decertification election during the term of this State-dictated ‘agreement.’”

Wonderful Nurseries’ complaint outlines several causes of action, arguing, among other things, that the state’s scheme deprives farm owners of liberty and property without due process of law, that the U.S. Supreme Court has already concluded that compulsory arbitration schemes similar to this one violate due process, that the statute’s delegation of coercive state power to a private union violates due process, that it impermissibly combines the mediation and adjudication functions in one decisionmaker, and that it violates equal protection and due process in various other ways. It seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.

Companies: Wonderful Nurseries LLC

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