Zorrero

The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (board) determined that Hector Zorrero (claimant) was ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits. Claimant petitioned the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a writ of mandate to compel the board to set aside that determination.

Unemployment Insurance Code section 1256 provides that an individual is not qualified for unemployment compensation benefits if it is found that he left his work voluntarily without good cause. That same statute, however, provides that an individual is presumed not to have voluntarily left his work without good cause unless his employer gives written notice to the Director of the Department of Human Resources Development within five days after termination of employment setting forth facts to overcome that presumption.

Claimant left his employment on January 22, 1971, and applied for compensation. His employer did not inform the department that he had left his employment without good cause until March 10, 1971. Initially the superior court in this matter granted claimant’s petition for writ of mandate holding that the employer’s failure to file its notice within the prescribed time…