Silver

Plaintiffs and appellants Neil Silver, James Williams, Robert Bennett, Robert Caudill, Johnny Howard, United Transportation Union General Committee of Adjustment (UTU), and Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1277, AFL-CIO (ATU) (collectively, petitioners), appeal a judgment denying their petition for writ of mandate, which petition was directed against defendants and respondents Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Public Transportation Services Corporation (PTSC), and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS). (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085.)

The board of the MTA created PTSC, a governmental nonprofit public benefit corporation, and transferred a portion of its workforce to that entity. The petitioners contend PTSC is a sham corporation and is an illegal attempt to evade the MTA’s obligation to cover its employees under Social Security. The trial court found PTSC was formed for a proper purpose, namely, to make PERS retirement benefits available to MTA employees, who are protected in an acquisition from any diminution in wages and benefits. (Pub. Util. Code, § 30753.) In addition, PTSC was established to provide transportation and…