Guerrero

INTRODUCTION

Petitioner Adelina Tapia Guerrero was employed to provide in-home support services (IHSS) to eligible recipients in Sonoma County (County) under the In-Home Support Services Act. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 12300 et seq.) 1 She was never paid for any of the services she rendered to program recipient Alejandra Buenrostro from November 4, 2008, through January 29, 2009, despite a comprehensive scheme of federal and California statutes, implemented within County through enactment of local ordinances that spell out the responsibilities of County and the Sonoma County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority (Public Authority) for establishing and monitoring IHSS providers’ wages, hours, and conditions of employment. She contends that County and Public Authority were her “joint employers” with Buenrostro for purposes of her federal and state wage and hour claims. The Sonoma County Superior Court rejected this contention, sustaining without leave to amend the demurrer of real parties in interest Jo Weber, as Director of the Sonoma County Department of Human Services, and Michael Humphrey, as manager of the Public Authority, as to her causes of action for unpaid…