Windigo Mills v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd.

Statement of the Case

This appeal is from a judgment granting a writ of administrative mandate pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5. By the writ the trial court ordered appellant, the California Unemployment Insurance Board (hereinafter Board), to set aside its decision that certain employees who had participated in a strike against respondent Windigo Mills (hereinafter Windigo) were eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits.

The employees’ applications for unemployment benefits were originally denied by the Employment Development Department on the ground that the claimants were ineligible for such benefits under California Unemployment Insurance Code section 1262. The claimants appealed this decision to the Board and a hearing was held before an administrative law judge (hereinafter ALJ). The ALJ ruled that section 1262 did not preclude the claimants from receiving benefits. The ALJ determined that the striking employees had been permanently replaced by their employer; hence, the strike was no longer the cause of their unemployment.

Windigo filed an appeal from that decision with the Board. It asserted that the ALJ erred in finding that the…