Krug

BACKGROUND

The CSU system is a “state agency . . . in the field of public higher education which is charged with the management, administration, and control of the State College System of California.” (Cal. Const., art. XX, § 23; see Ed. Code, §§ 66600 [creating CSU’s board of trustees]; 89000 et seq. [governing CSU].) The Legislature has conferred on CSU a variety of powers, including the power to “prescribe policies and procedures for the acquisition of services, facilities, materials, goods, supplies, or equipment.” (Ed. Code, § 89036, subd. (a)(2).) In March 2020, CSU directed its teachers to begin teaching classes remotely. Krug did so but was denied access to his workplace office to retrieve his CSU-provided computer and printer. He absorbed the cost for replacing these items himself, then asked for reimbursement, which the school denied. CSU 1 took the position that Labor Code section 2802, subdivision (a), which obligates an employer to “indemnify [an] employee for all necessary expenditures . . . incurred . . . in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties,” did not apply to the school because such application would infringe on its sovereign powers as a…