SEIU Local 1021 picketed several locations within the City of Novato, including the parking lot of the City’s Administrative Building. Some picketers alleged they observed the Assistant City Manager (ACM) in the Administrative Building, holding her phone up to a window that overlooked SEIU’s picket line, which created the appearance that the ACM was photographing or video recording the picketers. SEIU alleged that picketers who observed the ACM felt intimidated because they believed she was photographing or video recording their presence on the picket line. SEIU filed an Unfair Practice Charge that alleged that the ACM interfered with the its members protected activity under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA). The City denied that the ACM video recorded, photographed, or disciplined any picketer.
The Public Employment Relations Board’s (PERB’s) Office of the General Counsel (OCG) dismissed the charge, finding that the allegations did not establish a prima facie violation. SEIU appealed. PERB then reversed the dismissal based on its determination that SEIU had stated a prima facie case of interference.
PERB reaffirmed that actual surveillance of protected activity—or conduct that reasonably creates the appearance of surveillance—can tend to chill employees’ exercise of protected rights under the MMBA. A union adequately alleges an interference claim when it asserts that an employer’s representative went beyond merely observing open and public activity near the employer’s property and either: 1) photographed, video recorded, or otherwise kept records of the activity; or 2) created the appearance of doing so.
PERB rejected the view that picketing’s public nature eliminated the concern. It did not matter, at the pleading stage, that the picketing occurred in public or that SEIU and media outlets may have independently posted images of participants. PERB reasoned that an employer occupies a different position because of its authority over discipline.
This decision is procedural and does not determine whether the City violated the MMBA. At this stage, PERB was required to accept SEIU’s factual allegations as true and view them in the light most favorable to SEIU.
Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 v. City of Novato, PERB Decision No. 3048-M (Aug. 12, 2026)