Split decision reshapes how HR handles union demands when policies affect employee health and safety
CSU must bargain over student vaccine policy's health effects, but court says informal talks satisfy initial obligations.
The decision, issued January 26, 2026, by California's Second District Court of Appeal, centers on a dispute that started three years ago when California State University scaled back student vaccination requirements. What seemed like a straightforward student policy change turned into a labor relations flashpoint when faculty representatives argued it put immunocompromised professors at risk.
Here's what happened. In February 2023, CSU adopted a new policy requiring only students under 19 to get hepatitis B shots. Everything else, including measles, mumps, and meningococcal vaccines, became optional recommendations. The previous 2019 policy had mandated those vaccines for all students.
The California Faculty Association, which represents professors, lecturers, coaches, counselors, and librarians across the CSU system, caught wind of the change within two weeks. Faculty members started calling in worried. Some couldn't get vaccinated because of allergies to vaccine ingredients. Others with compromised immune systems from chemotherapy, organ transplants, or autoimmune diseases rely on high vaccination rates around them to stay safe.
On February 23, 2023, the union sent CSU a letter demanding negotiations. The message was direct: stop rolling out this...
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