Source: http://www.lawlink.com/research/CaseLevel3/58176
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:01:54+00:00

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CITY OF ANAHEIM, Petitioner, v. WORKERS' COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARD and DAVID A. BRAZZ, Respondents.
Banks, Leviton & Kelley, Banks, Leviton, Kelley, Drass & Kelsey, Francis B. Drass and Eugene Leviton for Respondents.
We granted the petition of the City of Anaheim (City) to review a decision of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (Board) awarding David A. Brazz (the applicant) a penalty for serious and wilful misconduct (Lab. Code, ? 4553) based on the Board's finding that City violated Labor Code section 132a fn. 1 which prohibits employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against any employee because the employee has filed an application for benefits with the Board.
City contends, inter alia, that section 132a is inapplicable to the facts of this case and that therefore the penalty assessed against it was in excess of the Board's jurisdiction. We agree, and the award and decision of the Board will be annulled.
On August 15, 1977, the applicant filed an application for adjudication of claim asserting that on November 14, 1975, while employed as a lineman by the City he sustained an injury to his back and left leg arising out of and in the course of his employment. Pending adjudication of his claim, the applicant returned to work for the City. On or about September 5, 1978, however, he resigned his employment with the City and shortly thereafter was employed by the Southern California Water Company as a lineman. The application for adjudication of claim remained pending.
Although there is apparently some dispute about the number of calls, who initiated them and what was said, in early 1979, after the applicant had left the City's employ and had gone to work for Southern California Water Company, there was a telephone conversation between Mr. Jack Love, risk manager for the City, and Mr. Marshall Boswell, manager of water and electric operations for the Southern California Water Company. According to the testimony of Mr. Boswell, during [124 Cal.App.3d 612] this conversation Mr. Love suggested that Southern California Water Company would not find the applicant a satisfactory employee and that it would be well advised to discharge the applicant from employment before it experienced the same trouble the City had.
Southern California Water Company did not discharge the applicant however, and he suffered no loss of employment or other adverse consequence as a result of what Mr. Love had said. Nevertheless, on or about March 22, 1979, the applicant filed in the still-pending proceeding for adjudication of claim a document entitled "Allegations and Specifications of Violation of Labor Code ? 132a."
Applicant's claim for benefits otherwise proceeded and, after the Board granted the City's petition for reconsideration to have the applicant examined by an independent medical examiner, ultimately resulted in an award to applicant of $5,635 payable $70 per week based on a permanent disability rating of 22 percent. That award is not in issue on review.
The Board reasoned: "Although applicant was not terminated nor penalized for availing himself of the remedies of workers' compensation, the action of his previous employer is inconsistent with the declared policy of Labor Code section 132a and hence, a violation may be [124 Cal.App.3d 613] upheld .... Moreover, the fact that applicant was not employed by the individual or organization discriminating against him does not make Labor Code section 132a inapplicable. The evil which the legislature sought to prevent is all discrimination against workers having its basis in an industrial injury. The policy of protection will not be effectuated if such discrimination is found not actionable pursuant to the statutes [sic] because the defendant was not the employer at the time of the discriminatory act and would be inconsistent with the interpretation of the preamble as found in [Judson Steel Corp. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1978) 22 Cal.3d 658, 666-669 (150 Cal.Rptr. 250, 586 P.2d 564), and County of Santa Barbara v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (1980) 109 Cal.App.3d 211, 214-216 (167 Cal.Rptr. 65)]."
Board's reliance onJudson Steel Corp. v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., supra, 22 Cal.3d 658, and County of Santa Barbara v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd., supra, 109 Cal.App.3d 211, was unwarranted. The County of Santa Barbara case merely applies the Judson Steel Corp. decision to a different set of facts, and the language of the court in Judson Steel supports our conclusion.
In both the cited cases it was uncontroverted that an employer-employee relationship existed at the time of the discriminatory act complained of, and the question was whether the employer's conduct constituted the kind of discriminatory conduct proscribed by the statute. The statutory policy and purpose were highly relevant to resolution of that question and the decision in each case rested in large part on the statutory purpose and the underlying public policy. In contrast, here there is no question but that the conduct found by the Board would be discriminatory within the meaning of the statute; the question is whether the statute applies to such conduct toward a nonemployee (former employee) by a nonemployer (former employer). The language of the statute, as we have seen, supplies the answer.
The concern expressed by the Board that the protective statutory policy "will not be effectuated if such discrimination is found not actionable pursuant to the statutes [sic] because the defendant was not the employer at the time of the discriminatory act" is not well founded. The courts of this state are perfectly capable of redressing injury resulting from conduct such as that found here in an action for wrongful interference with contractual or advantageous economic relationship. [124 Cal.App.3d 616] (See e.g.,Buckaloo v. Johnson (1975) 14 Cal.3d 815, 822-827 [122 Cal.Rptr. 745, 537 P.2d 865]; Speegle v. Board of Fire Underwriters (1946) 29 Cal.2d 34, 39-40 [172 P.2d 867]; Blender v. Superior Court (1942) 55 Cal.App.2d 24, 26-27 [130 P.2d 179]; 4 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (8th ed. 1974) Torts, ?? 384-386, 392-393, pp. 2636-2638, 2643-2647.) In any event, whether or not the statute ought to be amended to extend to a situation like that in the case at bench is a question for the Legislature not the courts.
Board's "Opinion and Decision After Reconsideration" dated January 16, 1981, and the award contained therein are annulled.
McDaniel, J., and Morris, J., concurred.
?FN 1. Unless otherwise specified all statutory references will be to the Labor Code.
"(a) The employer, or his managing representative.
"(b) If the employer is a partnership, on the part of one of the partners or a managing representative or general superintendent thereof.
"(c) If the employer is a corporation, on the part of an executive, managing officer, or general superintendent thereof.
"But such increase of award shall in no event exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000); together with costs and expenses incident to procurement of such award, not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250)."
?FN 3. Section 132a reads in pertinent part: "It is the declared policy of this state that there should not be discrimination against workers who are injured in the course and scope of their employment.
"(1) Any employer who discharges, or threatens to discharge, or in any manner discriminates against any employee because the latter has filed or made known his intention to file an application with the appeals board, or because the employee has received a rating, award or settlement, is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the provisions of Section 4553. Any such employee shall be entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by such acts of the employer.

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