California Court of Appeal

In a petition for writ of administrative mandamus brought by the County of Los Angeles, Chief Executive Office, asserting the privacy rights of non-union member county employees and challenging a decision by the Los Angeles County Employees Relations Commission that ordered the county to release their names, home addresses, and home telephone numbers to the union, trial court's denial of the petition is reversed and remanded with directions to enter a new order denying the petition but directing the county to give non-member employees notice and an opportunity to object before disclosure of their personal information to the union where: 1) non-member county employees who have not disclosed their personal information to the union are entitled to notice and an opportunity to object before disclosure; 2) when third-party information has been ordered disclosed in civil litigation, the California Supreme Court recognizes that privacy notices and opt-out procedures sufficiently strike a balance between the right to the information and the rights of third parties to control the dissemination of their personal information, and non-member county employees are entitled to these same procedural protections; 3) county employees have a reasonable expectation that the personal information they provide to their employer will remain confidential and not disseminated without notice; and 4) non-member county employees do not forfeit their privacy rights by accepting employment with a public agency whose employees have a collective right to unionize but an individual right not to join.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/14/2010
• Published 12/14/2010

Judges

• ALDRICH

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Calvin House, Alan G. Crowley