When responding to union requests for bargaining unit members' home addresses and telephone numbers, labor relations professionals must balance between an employee’s right of informational privacy and a union’s right to obtain information it needs to represent the employee in collective bargaining.

State and federal labor decisions have long held that unions are presumptively entitled to contact information for all employees they represent.  These decisions, and applicable labor laws, generally obligate the employer to give the union the requested information.

The Service Employees International Union, Local 721 (SEIU), the exclusive bargaining representative of all Los Angeles County employees, asserted that SEIU was entitled to obtain the home addresses and phone numbers of all represented employees, including those who have not joined the union.

The California Supreme Court considered whether the right to privacy under Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution prohibits disclosure of the addresses and phone numbers of all represented employees.  In an opinion published yesterday, the Court concluded that, although the county’s employees have a cognizable privacy interest in their home addresses and telephone numbers, the balance of interests strongly favors disclosure of this information to the union that represents them.

The Court decided that agencies may develop procedures for employees who object to this disclosure, but that the Court of Appeal exceeded its authority in this administrative mandate proceeding by attempting to impose specific procedures on the parties.