Candari

The sole issue presented on appeal is whether the trial court committed error in issuing a peremptory writ of mandate directing defendant and appellant Los Angeles Unified School District Personnel Commission (Commission) to vacate that portion of its administrative order of April 16, 2008, denying backpay to plaintiff and respondent Steven Candari and remanding to the Commission to determine the amount of backpay owed to Candari. We find no error and affirm.

FACTS

Candari was hired by defendant and appellant Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) 1 in 1997. In 2006, Candari was a tenured or “permanent” carpenter for LAUSD, assigned to the maintenance and operations branch, district 6. Candari also served as a union steward at that time.

On September 13, 2006, Candari took his regular lunch break between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. He went to Las Trancas restaurant with two coworkers, William Rios and Ignacio Alcaraz. Candari and Alcaraz ordered food but no beverages, drinking only the water brought to the table by the waitress when they sat down. Rios ordered a bottle of beer with his lunch. He did not like the way it tasted, so he ordered a bottle of Bohemia…