Sanchez v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd.

• Decision Date: 05 October 1977
• Citation: 20 Cal.3d 55,569 P.2d 740,141 Cal.Rptr. 146
• Parties: , 569 P.2d 740 Maria Dolores SANCHEZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE APPEALS BOARD, Defendant and Respondent; Carmen VASQUEZ, Real Party in Interest and Respondent. L.A. 30690.
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 146

141 Cal.Rptr. 146

20 Cal.3d 55, 569 P.2d 740

Maria Dolores SANCHEZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE APPEALS BOARD, Defendant and Respondent Carmen VASQUEZ, Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

L.A. 30690.

Supreme Court of California.

Oct. 5, 1977.

Joseph P. Charney, Cary S. Reisman and Kenyon F. Dobberteen, Los Angeles, for plaintiff and appellant.

Woll & Mayer, J. Albert Woll, Marsha Berzon, Washington, D. C., Charles P. Scully, Donald C. Carroll, San Francisco, and Stephen G. Schrey, Northridge, as amici curiae on behalf of plaintiff and appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., and Thomas Scheerer, Deputy Atty. Gen., for defendant and respondent.

MOSK, Justice.

Maria Dolores Sanchez appeals from a judgment of the superior court denying her application for a writ of mandate to compel the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board to set aside its determination that she was ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits for the reason that she was not "available for work." (Unemp.Ins.Code, § 1253, subd. (c).) ¹ Because the court employed an erroneous standard of "availability" in reviewing the board's determination, we conclude the judgment denying the writ must be reversed. Moreover, since the decision of the board also clearly applies an interpretation of section 1253, subdivision (c), which conflicts with other provisions of the code, we direct the superior court to issue the writ in order to give the board an opportunity to apply the appropriate standard of availability to the facts of the case.

Claimant Sanchez applied for benefits from the Department of Employment Development on or about September 11, 1974. ² At her "claim status interview" it was established that her last employment, as a restaurant waitress, had been terminated after a dispute between claimant and her supervisor as to work scheduling. ³ Claimant also informed the department that she could not accept work on either Saturdays or Sundays because on those days she must care for her four-year-old son. Sanchez's sister, who had previously looked after the child on weekends, had departed for Mexico a few days earlier.

The department concluded that Sanchez was not "able to work and available for work," in that her self-imposed exclusion from weekend employment eliminated a "major portion of her labor market" as a waitress. Her claim for benefits was denied with a citation to section 1253 of the code. ⁴

Sanchez pursued an administrative appeal from this determination, and at the subsequent hearing she gave the only testimony. Her statements may be summarized as follows: During the previous nine years she had worked mainly in restaurants as a waitress or manager, although she had some factory work experience. As a restaurant worker she had usually worked on weekends, although in her last employment she had not worked on Sundays. She was ready to accept either restaurant or factory work during the week when her sister-in-law was available to tend to the child, and she imposed no time restrictions on such weekday work. Indeed, Sanchez had looked for both restaurant and factory employment without success; moreover, if her sister returned from Mexico she was prepared to accept weekend work as well.

Aside from Sanchez's own testimony, no evidence was received at the hearing concerning the size of the potential market for waitress labor within claimant's time restrictions. ⁵ Nor was evidence adduced as to the potential weekday market for factory work.

In affirming the department's denial of benefits, the hearing referee declared that in order to satisfy the availability requirement a claimant "cannot impose restrictions on suitable work, such as limitations on hours, days, shifts or wages, which will materially reduce the possibility of obtaining employment." He further found that "the evidence established that Saturday work in restaurants is required." Conceding that claimant might "be compelled to care for her child because she has no other person at this time," the referee nevertheless held that the "restriction substantially reduces her attachment to the labor market" and that she was "not available for work within the meaning of section 1253(c) of the Code."

On claimant's further appeal, the board adopted the referee's opinion as its own and affirmed his decision.

The administrative record so far described was submitted with claimant's application for a writ of mandate to the superior court. In addition, the court "judicially noticed that restaurants in Los Angeles County and environs are generally open on Saturdays and Sundays." On this basis, the court found the board's decision supported by a preponderance of the evidence. The court concluded that claimant, "by not being able to work on weekends, was not available for work within the meaning of Unemployment Insurance Code section 1253(c) in that she materially reduced her opportunities for employment."

"Availability for Work"

This appeal revives basic issues regarding the meaning of the availability requirement of section 1253 and its relationship to the code's penalties for rejection of offers of "suitable work" without "good cause." While the requirement that an applicant for unemployment benefits be "able to work and available for work" establishes a prerequisite to eligibility for any benefits, the code also provides a temporary disqualification from eligibility for an individual who "without good cause, refused to accept suitable employment when offered to him, or failed to apply for suitable employment when notified by a public employment office." (§ 1257, subd. (b).) Under section 1260, subdivision (b), this disqualification extends for "not less than 2 nor more than 10 consecutive weeks." Sections 1258, 1258.5, and 1259 either elaborate or qualify the "suitable employment" requirement. ⁶

Confronted with this statutory scheme claimant contends that where "compelling reasons" to restrict employment exist, a determination of availability should not turn on whether such a restriction has "materially reduced" the chances of claimant's employment, but should instead involve an examination of whether, in spite of the restriction, reasonable prospects for employment remain. It is further urged that the availability provision should not be read so as to require claimants to be available for work which would not be "suitable" under section 1257, subdivision (b), or which a claimant would have "good cause" to refuse under that provision. Claimant's analysis concludes that both board and case-law precedents establish a two-step approach to availability questions. First, to be eligible under section 1253, subdivision (c), a claimant need be available only for " 'suitable work which the claimant has no good cause for refusing.' " (Garcia v. California Emp. Stab. Com. (1945) 71 Cal.App.2d 107, 113, 114, 161 P.2d 972, 976.) Second, before finding a claimant "available" on this basis the department must also inquire whether he or she has thereby attached him or herself to a potential labor market of sufficient size so that "reasonable prospects for employment remain."

The board, in response, alludes to at least three possible interpretations of the "availability" requirement which would justify the denial of benefits to Sanchez. First it is suggested, in keeping with the standard applied by both the court below and the hearing referee, that any restriction which would "materially reduce" the possibilities for claimant's employment renders her unavailable within the meaning of section 1253, subdivision (c). Next the board potentially qualifies this broad rule with a second restriction, which would declare that a claimant need "be available for work throughout the week as is customarily or ordinarily required by work in his usual occupation." Finally, the claimant's previous work history is offered as a consideration, the board emphasizing here that "appellant worked weekends at her last previous employment, and she generally worked on weekends during her restaurant career." None of the interpretations advanced by the board would take into account whether the work that was the subject of a claimant's restrictions was in fact "suitable work" or work which the claimant would not have "good cause" to refuse under section 1257, subdivision (b).

The threshold question which we must resolve, then, is whether the availability requirement of section 1253, subdivision (c), imposes upon claimants an obligation to declare themselves available for work which is either "unsuitable" or which they would have "good cause" to refuse. The answer required by the structure of our unemployment insurance scheme and the answer consistently given by both the courts and the board heretofore is in the negative. Any other result would frustrate the policies inherent in the several statutory provisions regarding "suitable work" and "good cause" to refuse work. (§§ 1257, subd. (b), 1258, 1258.5, 1259.)

The combined effect of those sections is to allow a claimant to refuse, without risk of disqualification, work which is either unsuitable or which the claimant has other "good cause" to refuse. Yet the board would hold that while a claimant who refuses specific referrals may not be temporarily disqualified, he may be declared unavailable and totally ineligible merely because he asserts in advance that he will refuse certain specific referrals which by hypothesis he could refuse without risk of disqualification. ⁷ Moreover, since a refusal of specific work might constitute evidence of general unavailability for similar work, if the suitability and good cause provisions do not limit the scope of the availability requirement, then refusals of unsuitable work or "good cause" refusals could become the basis of routine determinations of unavailability under section 1253.

It is not an overstatement to declare that such a rule "would render nugatory the 'suitable work'...