Edd

Plaintiff First Aid Services of San Diego, Inc. (First Aid) appeals a judgment of dismissal entered in favor of defendants California Employment Development Department (EDD) and California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (Board) (together the State) after the court issued an order sustaining without leave to amend the State’s demurrer to First Aid’s amended petition for a writ of administrative mandamus (amended petition), which challenged the Board’s decision that Tiffany Whittaker was an employee of First Aid, rather than an independent contractor, and thus eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Referencing the California Constitution and citing Unemployment Insurance Code section 1851 and Modern Barber Col. v. Cal. Emp. Stab. Com. (1948) 31 Cal.2d 720 [ 192 P.2d 916 ] (Modern Barber Colleges), the court found that the writ of administrative mandamus proceeding was barred because the purpose of the writ sought in First Aid’s amended petition “would be to restrain the collection of a tax.”

First Aid contends that (1) the rule in Modern Barber Colleges does not apply because the relief that First Aid sought in its amended petition was not to…