Except as provided by this article, supervisory employees shall not have the rights, or be covered by, any provision or definition established by this chapter.

“Supervisory employee” means any individual, regardless of the job description or title, having authority, in the interest of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. With respect to faculty or academic employees, any department chair, head of a similar academic unit or program, or other employee who performs the foregoing duties primarily in the interest of and on behalf of the members of the academic department, unit or program, shall not be deemed a supervisory

employee solely because of such duties; provided, that with respect to the University of California and the college named in Section 92200 of the Education Code, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that such an individual appointed by the employer to an indefinite term shall be deemed to be a supervisor. Employees whose duties are substantially similar to those of their subordinates shall not be considered to be supervisory employees.

Supervisory employees shall have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of supervisory employee-employer relations as set forth in Section 3581.3. Supervisory employees also shall have the right to refuse to join or participate in the activities of employee organizations and shall have the right to represent themselves individually in their employment relations with the employer.

Employee organizations shall have the right to represent their supervisory employee members in their employment relations, including grievances, with the employer. Employee organizations may establish reasonable restrictions regarding who may join and may make reasonable provisions for the dismissal of employees from membership. Nothing in this section shall prohibit any employee from appearing on his or her own behalf or through his or her chosen representative in his or her employment relations and grievances with the higher education employer.

The scope of representation for supervisory employees shall include all matters relating to employment conditions and supervisory employee-employer relations including wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

The higher education employer shall meet and confer with representatives of employee organizations upon request. Meet and confer means that they shall consider as fully as the employer deems reasonable such presentations as are made by the employee organization on behalf of its supervisory members prior to arriving at a determination of policy or course of action.

The higher education employer shall allow a reasonable number of supervisory public employee representatives of verified employee organizations reasonable time off without loss of compensation or other benefits when meeting and conferring with representatives of the higher education employer on matters within the scope of representation.

The higher education employer and employee organizations shall not interfere with, intimidate, restrain, coerce, or discriminate against supervisory employees because of their exercise of their rights under this article.

Subject to review by the board, the higher education employer may adopt reasonable rules and regulations for the administration of supervisory employee-employer relations under this article. Such rules and regulations may include provisions for: