Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Superior Court

*715 Opinion

Petitioner employer, joined by its voluntary plan administrator, seeks mandate from this court to compel respondent to grant their motions for judgments on the pleadings.

Our peremptory writ will issue.

Statement of Facts

Safeway Stores, Inc. (hereafter, Safeway) and Voluntary Plan Administrators, Inc. (hereafter, VPA) are defendants below in a suit brought by real party Linda Lee, which alleges common law claims for breach of insurance contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sexual discrimination in violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 United States Code section 2000e et seq. (hereafter, Title VII).

The facts alleged in the complaint are these:

In accordance with California Unemployment Insurance Code section 3251 et seq., 2 Safeway provided its employees a disability insurance plan. Safeway’s plan was a “voluntary” plan under the code. Lee had filed a claim under the plan seeking payments for disability relating to her pregnancy; the claim sought benefits for a period of time which predated her anticipated date of delivery by more than four weeks. Safeway…