Cta v. The District

• Decision Date: 11 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. F035738.,F035738.
• Citation: 95 Cal.App.4th 183,115 Cal.Rptr.2d 323
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. The GOVERNING BOARD OF THE HILMAR UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants and Appellants.

115 Cal.Rptr.2d 323

95 Cal.App.4th 183

CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. The GOVERNING BOARD OF THE HILMAR UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. F035738.

Court of Appeal, Fifth District.

January 11, 2002.

Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, Chesley D. Quaide and Janice J. Hein, Pleasanton, for Defendants and Appellants.

Tuttle & McCloskey, Ernest H. Tuttle, Fresno, and Kay M. Tuttle, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

OPINION

LEVY, J.

The Governing Board of the Hilmar Unified School District and the Hilmar Unified School District (collectively, the District) appeal from a judgment granting a peremptory writ of mandate directing the District to pay eight teachers who resigned or left their employment at the end of the 1997-1998 school year an additional one-time payment of 3 percent of base salary. A one-time payment of 3 percent of base salary had been paid by the District to teachers who returned to work for the 1998-1999 school year or retired after the 1997-1998 school year. The payment was not made to teachers who resigned or left after the 1997-1998 school year. The payment determinations by the District were made in accordance with the express terms of a mediated settlement package reached with the teachers' union in September 1998. The trial court held the exclusion of the eight teachers violated the uniform pay provisions of Education Code section 45028¹ and granted the writ of mandate.

We hold that where a one-time payment to teachers is based upon at least one criterion that is neither years of training nor years of experience, the provisions of subdivision (d) of Government Code section 3543.2 apply and, thus, section 45028 is not violated. Accordingly, we reverse.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The California Teachers Association (CTA) and the Hilmar Teachers' Association (HTA) filed a petition for writ of mandate against the District on November 4, 1999, requesting payment of "the 3% retroactive pay to all teachers who worked during the 1997-1998 school year, including the eight teachers who left or resigned at the end of the school year." The District filed an opposition to the petition, along with declarations and points and authorities.

On April 4, 2000, a hearing was held at which counsel presented arguments based upon the declarations and exhibits filed with the court. No witnesses testified at the hearing. After the oral argument, the trial court issued its decision granting the writ. The judgment was filed and a peremptory writ of mandate was issued on May 1, 2000. The District filed its notice of appeal on June 12, 2000, seeking reversal of the trial court's judgment and entry of a judgment denying the petition for a writ of mandate.

FACTS

The District, like many school districts throughout California, pays its teachers based on a salary schedule with columns for the number of college units taken above a college degree and with rows or "steps" for the number of years of teaching experience. The base salary of each teacher is set forth in the "cell" formed by the intersection on the salary schedule of the row, i.e., step, containing his or her number of years of teaching experience and the column containing the number of college units he or she has completed.

During contract negotiations for the 1997-1998 school year, the District and the HTA reached impasse and, in the fall of 1998, a mediator was appointed pursuant to Government Code section 3548 et seq. to assist the parties in reaching agreement. The District and the HTA reached a tentative agreement on salary and other matters for the 1997-1998 and the 1998-1999 school years.²

The president of the HTA described the round of bargaining that led to the tentative agreement as long and difficult. The District initially proposed a one-time payment of 3 percent of base salary be made only to teachers who returned to work for the 1998-1999 school year. During the negotiations, the representative of the HTA (1) represented that the proposal was unacceptable unless the one-time payment also was paid to teachers who retired and (2) "expressly acknowledged that the [HTA] was not seeking to have this same payment made to [HTA] members who had otherwise left or resigned their employment with the District at the conclusion of the 1997-1998 school year."

The president of the HTA stated in her declaration that (1) the HTA "bargaining team .... made it clear to all concerned, that any settlement .... should provide retroactive pay to all persons who [taught] during the 1997-98 school year" and (2) the "bargaining team recommended the ratification of the settlement agreement based on our understanding and expressed intent, that all persons who were in the bargaining unit during the 1997-98 school year would receive the 3% retroactive pay." The declaration and rest of the record do not indicate whether "all concerned" included any representative of the District and, if so, how and when either the position concerning retroactive pay or the "understanding and expressed intent" of the bargaining team was communicated to a representative of the District.

The final language in the tentative agreement was the result of discussions between Ron Roberti, a CTA staff representative, and attorney Paul Loya, the District's lead negotiator. The tentative agreement was ratified by the members of the HTA on September 17, 1998, and approved by the District on September 30, 1998. Paragraph 1 of the document titled "hilmar unified school district and hilmar teachers association mediated settlement package" provides:

"The parties agree to a 6.15% salary schedule increase effective July 1, 1998 and an additional one-time payment of 3% of base salary (including STRS credit). The one-time payment of 3% of base salary shall be paid only to all current unit members who served in paid status during the 1997-1998 school year, including those employees who retired at the conclusion of the 1997-1998 school year. Extra duty schedules will be increased by 6.15% effective July 1, 1998 for stipends and upon ratification for hourly rates."

Pursuant to the express terms of paragraph 1 of the mediated settlement package (hereafter, Paragraph 1), the District made the additional payment of 3 percent of base salary to all certificated employees who had returned to work for the 1998-1999 school year or who had retired from work at the conclusion of the 1997-1998 school year. The 3 percent payment was not made to eight teachers who left employment with the District at the end of the 1997-1998 school year, but did not retire. The eight teachers worked the entire 1997-1998 school year for the District but were not "current unit members" in September 1998.

One of the eight teachers wrote to the District requesting the 3 percent additional pay. The District replied with a letter declining the request. Subsequently, a demand letter was sent to the District requesting the 3 percent payment be made to all teachers who were employed during the 1997-1998 school year. This demand was rejected by the District based on the language of Paragraph 1 conditioning payment on either continued employment or retirement.

The trial court ruled the uniform pay provisions of Education Code section 45028 were violated based on the findings that (1) the teachers had already performed their work for the 1997-1998 school year for their classification; (2) the payment was calculated after the completion of the 1997-1998 school year using the base salary in effect for that school year; (3) the payment was retroactive pay and not a bonus; and (4) the criteria used to determine eligibility for the payment, i.e., teachers who returned or retired versus teachers who left or resigned, was arbitrary and without a reasonable basis. This appeal ensued and raises the issue of whether the "additional one-time payment of 3% of base salary" (hereafter, the Payment) violated section 45028.

DISCUSSION

I. The Mediated Settlement Package Unambiguously Excludes The Eight Teachers From Receiving The Payment.

The first sentence in Paragraph 1 set forth the formula for the amount of the Payment, that is, "3% of base salary." The second sentence contained the conditions relating to eligibility for the Payment. A recipient was required to be a "current unit member[ ] who served in paid status during the 1997-1998 school year" or an "employee[ ] who retired at the conclusion of the 1997-1998 school year." Our first step is to provisionally examine all credible extrinsic evidence concerning the parties' intentions and determine if Paragraph 1 is "ambiguous," i.e., reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation. (See Winet v. Price (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 1159, 1165-1166, 6 Cal.Rptr.2d 554.) The presence of ambiguity in an agreement is a question of law, not fact, which we determine de novo. (Ibid.) Accordingly, in addressing whether Paragraph 1 is ambiguous, we review the declarations, with attachments, of the HTA's president,³ the District's representative in negotiations, and others. After this review, we conclude the first two sentences of Paragraph 1 are subject to only one reasonable interpretation-teachers who taught during the 1997-1998 school year but (1) were not "current unit members" at the time the mediated settlement package was approved or (2) did not retire after the 1997-1998 school year failed to satisfy the conditions imposed and, therefore, were not eligible to receive 3% of their base salary.⁴

II. The Payment Was Authorized Additional Compensation.

We next consider whether or not contractually excluding the eight teachers from receiving the Payment was permissible under the relevant statutes. This issue requires the interpretation and application of section 45028 and Government Code section 3543.2, subdivisions (d) and (e), which govern teachers' salary schedules and "additional compensation." Section 45028, subdivision (a), provides in...