Tieberg

The Director of Employment (hereafter called the director) levied assessments against Lassie Television for unemployment insurance contributions assertedly due on the basis of salaries paid to writers who were employed to write television stories and plays. Such contributions are required only if the writers are employees rather than independent contractors. (Briggs v. California Emp. Com. (1946) 28 Cal.2d 50, 54 [ 168 P.2d 696 ].) Lassie filed a petition for reassessment with the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (hereafter called the board) contending that the writers were independent contractors. After a hearing, the referee found that they were employees and that the assessments were properly levied. The board reversed this determination. The director petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate to reverse the board’s decision and to compel Lassie to pay the assessments. The trial court found that the writers were employees, and Lassie appeals from this determination. 1

We hold that although the court, in determining that Lassie was an employer, improperly restricted its consideration to whether Lassie had the right to and did exercise control over the…