Gonzalez

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and respondent Josepha Gonzalez (plaintiff) worked as a caregiver and housekeeper for defendants and appellants Vladimir Beck, Slavko Beck, Slavika Beck, and the Beck Family Home (defendants). Upon termination of her employment, plaintiff filed a claim for unpaid wages with the California Labor Commissioner (Commissioner). When defendants failed to answer or appear at the administrative hearing on her claim, plaintiff obtained from the Commissioner an award upon which a judgment was entered in the trial court. Defendants’ subsequent motion to set aside the judgment was denied by the trial court on the grounds that they had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies pursuant to Labor Code section 98, subdivision (f) (section 98(f)).

On appeal, defendants contend that they were not required to exhaust their administrative remedies under section 98(f) because they did not receive actual notice of the administrative proceedings until well after the judgment was entered in the trial court. We hold that section 98(f) requires defendants, in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 473, to move to set aside the award before the Commissioner…