Interstate Brands v. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board

The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (Board) appeals from a judgment ordering the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate directing it to set aside its order granting unemployment insurance benefits to certain employees of plaintiff Interstate Brands, to strike all pertinent charges made to plaintiff's reserve account (Unemp. Ins. Code, § 1025 et seq.), [1] and to undertake any necessary further proceedings. We affirm.

The facts, although quite complex and subject to a variety of conflicting inferences, are basically undisputed. For our purposes they may be briefly summarized as follows: In 1972, plaintiff and several other major wholesale bakers of northern and southern California, pursuant to a long-standing practice, entered into multiemployer collective bargaining negotiations with certain labor unions representing their employees — the Bakery & Confectionary Workers International Union (B & C) in the south and the Teamsters Union in the north. In November of the same year, it appearing that these negotiations had reached an impasse over a work-week issue, the affected unions — first the Teamsters in the north, then a week later B & C in…

Prior to the recent decision in Tex-Cal Land Management, Inc. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd. (1979) 24 Cal.3d 335 [ 156 Cal.Rptr. 1 , 595 P.2d 579 ], it was held that because article VI, section 1 of our state Constitution vested judicial power in the courts, a trial court reviewing an administrative decision affecting vested fundamental rights was required to exercise independent judgment on the evidence unless the Constitution vested limited judicial power in the agency. (Strumsky v. San Diego County Employees Retirement Assn. (1974) 11 Cal.3d 28, 44-46 [ 112 Cal.Rptr. 805 , 520 P.2d 29 ].) If the agency’s decision did not affect a vested fundamental right or if the Constitution had vested the agency with judicial power, the trial court’s inquiry was limited to the customary test for determining whether the agency findings are supported by substantial evidence in light of the whole record. (Id., at pp. 44-45.)

*783 In Tex-Cal Land Management, Inc. we held that the Legislature could properly provide for substantial evidence review of a statewide agency “whether or not the California Constitution provides for that agency’s exercising ‘judicial power.’” (24 Cal.3d at pp.…

The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (Board) appeals from a judgment ordering the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate directing it to set aside its order granting *773 unemployment insurance benefits to certain employees of plaintiff Interstate Brands, to strike all pertinent charges made to plaintiff’s reserve account (Unemp. Ins. Code, § 1025 et seq.), 1 and to undertake any necessary further proceedings. We affirm.

The facts, although quite complex and subject to a variety of conflicting inferences, are basically undisputed. For our purposes they may be briefly summarized as follows: In 1972, plaintiff and several other major wholesale bakers of northern and southern California, pursuant to a long-standing practice, entered into multiemployer collective bargaining negotiations with certain labor unions representing their employees—the Bakery & Confectionary Workers International Union (B & C) in the south and the Teamsters Union in the north. In November of the same year, it appearing that these negotiations had reached an impasse over a work-week issue, the affected unions—first the Teamsters in the north, then a week later B & C in the…