In Los Angeles County Civil Service Com. v. Superior Court (1978) 23 Cal.3d 55, the county civil service commission (CSC) held hearings concerning amendments to CSC rules governing layoffs and grade reductions. Although the CSC sent notice to the relevant public employee organizations and gave them an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes, it refused their demand that the CSC meet and confer pursuant to Government Code section 3505 regarding the proposed amendments. (LA County, at p. 60.) The CSC argued that its rules and activities were exempted from the Act by section 3500, which stated, " 'Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to supersede the provisions of existing state law and the charters, ordinances, and rules of local public agencies which establish and regulate a merit or civil service system or which provide for other methods of administering employer-employee relations.' " (LA County, at p. 62.) In rejecting this argument, the court held, "The commission suggests that civil service rules carve out a particular area in employee-employer relations that should remain untouched by the meet-and-confer requirement. ... The danger of undermining employee rights, though, is equally apparent if civil service commissions may freely and without negotiation alter the content of their rules. The Act's stated purpose to guarantee full communication between employers and employees can hardly be met if the commission is not required directly to address employee concerns--concerns that frequently, of course, will be consistent with merit system principles. To carve out for the commission a unilateral authority over civil service rules would place an unjustifiable burden on public employees' right to representation. On the other hand, guaranteeing public employees an opportunity to have their views seriously considered (with the possibility that a nonbinding agreement will be adopted) serves employees' interests without destroying the commission's merit objectives." (LA County, supra, 23 Cal.3d at p. 63.)