The Makewhole Remedy in California Agriculture

Abstract

The 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act empowers the board that administers it, the ALRB, to impose a makewhole remedy on employers who fail to bargain in good faith with their employees' certified union representative. ALRB and court rulings during the first years of the Act made the determination of whether makewhole was appropriate, as well as the calculation of the award, increasingly complicated. The authors argue that these problems are largely responsible for widespread criticism of the ALRB by both unions and employers, as well as for extensive litigation that has delayed the fulfillment of most of the ALRB's makewhole orders. They favor keeping the makewhole remedy, but they suggest changes to rationalize its application and expedite the calculation of awards.