Baker v. Wadsworth
| Decision Date | 01 April 1970 |
| Citation | 6 Cal.App.3d 253,85 Cal.Rptr. 880 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Burval R. BAKER et al., Petitioners and Appellants, v. Guy W. WADSWORTH et al., Defendants and Respondents. Civ. 34599. |
Richman, Garrett & Ansell, Los Angeles, for petitioners and appellants.
Roger Arnebergh, City Atty., Bourke Jones, Asst. City Atty., Jack L. Wells Asst. City Atty., and Gilmore Tillman, Chief Asst. City Atty., for Water and Power.
Ralph Guy Wesson, Asst. City Atty., Gilbert W. Lee, Deputy City Atty., for defendants and respondents.
Appellants, petitioners below, are three men who from time to time have been employed by the Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles (hereinafter called the Department). Respondents are the Board of Civil Service Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles (hereinafter called the Civil Service Commission), the Commissioners of the Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles (hereinafter called the Water and Power Commission), and the City of Los Angeles.
On October 12, 1965, appellants' employment with the Department was terminated pursuant to a rule of the Civil Service Commission. Appellants thereafter requested and received a hearing before the Civil Service Commission, and on November 19, 1965, the Commission upheld appellants' termination. At the same hearing the Commission granted appellants' requests for restoration to certain lists of eligibles, but due to the termination, appellants lost certain seniority rights.
Following numerous subsequent hearings before both the Civil Service Commission and the Water and Power Commission, appellants petitioned the trial court for an alternative writ of mandate. The writ sought to order respondents to vacate and set aside the notice of termination and to reinstate appellants to full seniority.
On October 23, 1968, the petition for writ of mandate was denied and this appeal followed.
The following are the relevant facts as found by the trial court.
At the time this action arose appellants were employed as boilermakers by the Department at the Haynes Steam Plant. Appellants were and have been members of Boilermakers Union Local 92 (hereinafter called the Union).
On Monday, October 4, 1965, the Union established a picket line about the Haynes Steam Plant in a concerted effort to shut down all construction work on certain units of the plant. Several contractors had been engaged in construction work for the Department at Haynes Steam Plant prior to October 4, 1965, and the labor dispute was between these contractors and the Union. Appellants knew that no labor dispute existed between either the Union and the Department or between the Department and its employees. Nevertheless, upon learning of the picket line, appellants refused to continue working and left the premises of Haynes Steam Plant on October 4, 1965.
Thereafter members of the Union picket line asserted that construction employees of the Department, including appellants, could not enter Haynes Steam Plant without defying the picket line. As a result of the picketing more than four hundred employees of the Department, including appellants, refused to enter the plant to report for work.
At all times during their refusal to work, appellants were aware of the existence of rule 7.2 of the Civil Service Commission. Rule 7.2 provides as follows: 'An employee who is absent without a valid leave of absence for seven consecutive calendar days shall be deemed to have abandoned his position and to have resigned from the service unless within thirty calendar days from the last day he worked or the last day he was on a valid leave of absence, he proves to the satisfaction of the Board Department supervisors informed officers of the Union of the possible application of rule 7.2 to Department employees who were prevented from reporting for work by the Union picket line. They further informed the Union that the picket line was, as to the Department, a secondary boycott and strike which was unlawful.
that such failure was excusable. However, nothing in this section shall prevent an appointing authority from suspending or discharging an employee on account of unauthorized absence.'
On Thursday, October 7, 1965, officers of the Union informed the Department that if the Department opened a separate gate at the plant and permitted only Department employees to pass through the gate, the gate would not be picketed. They further informed the Department that the gate would be permitted to open on Monday, October 11, 1965. On Friday, October 8, 1965, the Department announced to its employees that a separate gate would be opened for their exclusive use at the steam plant.
On Monday, October 11, 1965, the separate gate was opened and was not picketed. With the exception of five employees, including appellants, all Department employees returned to work. Although appellants entered the premises of Haynes Steam Plant, they did not report for duty. They demanded to be assigned to work at another location and then refused to work not only at Haynes Steam Plant but also at any other location of the Department. Appellants based their refusal upon an alleged agreement between William Myers, then a member of the Water and Power Commission, and Mr. Gillespie, business representative of the Union, namely, that the Union would not picket the separate gate on the condition that appellants would be transferred to a location other than Haynes Steam Plant.
Appellants were expressly warned that their refusal to work would constitute abandonment of their positions under rule 7.2 of the Civil Service Commission. Nevertheless, appellants refused to work, withdrew their requests for vacations, and left the premises of the plant.
The following day, October 12, 1965, appellants and two other employees of the Department were terminated pursuant to rule 7.2. A notice setting forth the fact of termination in accordance with said rule was served on each of the appellants and was filed with the Civil Service Commission.
Subsequent to October 11, 1965, the general manager and chief engineer of the Department approved requests for retroactive leaves of absence for employees who had been absent from work during the week of October 4 to October 8, 1965, but only for those who returned to work on October 11, 1965. No requests for leaves of absence, either with or without pay, were approved for any employee who did not report for duty on October 11, 1965 (except for persons who reported absences for reasons of illness or previously approved requests for leaves of absence).
By communication dated October 14, 1965, and in accordance with rule 7.2, appellants requested the Civil Service Commission to find that their absence from work was excusable. After deferring action on October 22, 1965, and again on November 5, 1965, the Commission held a hearing on appellants' requests on November 19, 1965. Appellants were present at the hearing and were represented therein by Mr. Gillespie, the Union's business representative. After hearing and reviewing the evidence presented, the Commission denied appellants' requests and found that their absences were not excusable. The trial court concluded that this finding was supported by substantial evidence.
At the same hearing, the Commission granted appellants' requests for restoration to certain eligible lists under rule 9 of the Civil Service Commission. In accordance with rules 1.34 and 7.8 of the Civil Service Commission, the termination of appellants resulted in the loss of seniority held by each of them prior to termination for purposes Appellants were subsequently hired from eligible lists in various capacities and as boilermakers. As of the date of the judgment below (October 23, 1968), three other Department employees had been appointed as boilermakers and in the event of restoration of seniority to appellants, at least two of these employees would be replaced by appellants.
of layoff in the event appellants were laid off and re-employed by the Department.
On March 4, 1966, the Civil Service Commission denied a request for reconsideration of its prior ruling on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction.
On March 14, 1966, Herbert M. Ansell, attorney for appellants, requested a hearing by the Department, and on September 16, 1966, he presented an argument to the Water and Power Commission. On January 12, 1967, the office of the city attorney filed an opinion with the Water and Power Commission stating that said commission had no power to grant the relief requested by appellants. More correspondence followed and on May 18, 1967, the Water and Power Commission met again to hear further arguments by appellants, Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Ansell.
On September 15, 1967, appellants filed a request with the Civil Service Commission for retroactive leave of absence for the period they were absent from work in October 1965. The Commission denied appellants' request on January 19, 1968, on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction.
Appellants petitioned the trial court for an alternative writ of mandate on May 31, 1968. The alternative writ was filed June 21, 1968 and the writ was denied October 23, 1968.
Other facts relating solely to the issues of whether appellants were guilty of laches and whether respondents should be estopped to raise the defense of laches, will not be set forth in that we deem it unnecessary to discuss those issues.
Appellants contend as follows:
(1) Rule 7.2 of the Civil Service Commission is in conflict with the charter of the City of Los Angeles and therefore void, and furthermore that the Commission had no legislative authority to adopt the rule;
(2) They were denied procedural due process of law in connection with their hearing before the Civil Service Commission on November 19, 1965;
(3) They were denied substantive due...
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