Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act: employees.

Existing law, known as the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, contains provisions relating to employer-employee relations between the state and the employees of state institutions of higher education, including the University of California and the California State University, as well as the Hastings College of the Law. These provisions assign major responsibilities for implementation to the Public Employment Relations Board. Under the act, an "employee" or "higher education employee" is defined as any employee of the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the California State University. The act further provides that the board may find student employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students are employees only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives, or that those educational objectives are subordinate to the services they perform and that coverage under this act would further the purposes of the act. This bill would provide that student employees whose employment is contingent upon their status as students are employees or higher education employees for purposes of the act. The act prohibits "scope of representation," for purposes of the University of California only, from including, among other things, conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students. This bill would provide that the conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students that are outside of the scope of representation include what is required for students to achieve satisfactory progress toward their degrees.