California Ass'n of Highway Patrolmen v. Department of Personnel Administration

Plaintiff California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP) appeals from a judgment sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend and denying a writ of mandate. CAHP sought to compel respondent, California Department of Personnel Administration (Department), to set aside its decision denying overtime compensation to officers employed by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for the one-half hour lunch period of each working shift. We shall affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

In Fowler v. State Personnel Bd. (1982) 134 Cal.App.3d 964 [ 185 Cal.Rptr. 292 ], the Court of Appeal held that a CHP officer was not entitled to overtime compensation for his lunch period, even though he was subject to numerous restrictions on his freedom during his lunch period. (Pp. 968, 970.)

On July 1, 1984, pursuant to the State Employer-Employee Relations Act (Gov. Code, §§ 3512-3524, hereafter SEERA; all further nondescript stat utory references are to the Government Code), CAHP and the State of California entered into a written memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU, which was attached as an exhibit to and incorporated by reference in plaintiff’s complaint, “has as its purpose the…