County of Los Angeles v. Los Angeles County Employee Relations Comm’n, 190 Cal. App. 4th 178 (2010)

During the course of collective bargaining, the Service Employees International Union asked the county for the personal contact information (names, home addresses and home telephone numbers) of county employees who are in the bargaining unit but who are not members of the union. When the county refused to disclose that information based on the employees’ right to privacy, the union filed an unfair employee-relations practice charge with the Los Angeles County Employee Relations Commission. The Commission agreed with the union and ordered the county to release the information. The trial court upheld the Commission’s decision but on different grounds. In this opinion, the Court of Appeal considered the non-members’ state constitutional right to privacy, reversed the trial court’s order and remanded with directions to the trial court to enter a new order directing the county and union to meet and confer on a proposed notice that includes notice to non-member county employees and an opportunity for them to object to disclosure. See also Krottner v. Starbucks Corp., 2010 WL 5141255 (9th Cir. 2010) (Starbucks employees whose names, addresses and social security numbers were stored on a stolen laptop had standing to sue under Article III of the U.S. Constitution).