Flores v. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board

[683]

Opinion

FILES, P. J.

This is a mandate proceeding filed in the superior court by a claimant for unemployment insurance benefits to review a decision of the respondent appeals board. The superior court gave judgment ordering the appeals board to hear claimant’s case on its merits. The board has appealed from that judgment..

The issue here involves the interpretation and application of section 1328 of the Unemployment Insurance Code which establishes the time for an appeal by a claimant after a summary administrative ruling against him.

This appeal was brought upon the judgment roll. (Rule 5(f), Cal. Rules of Court.) The facts shown by the trial court’s findings follow:

After the claimant was discharged by his employer on September 4, 1970, he applied for unemployment insurance benefits. On October 13, 1970, the local unemployment insurance office sent to the claimant a notice of determination, informing him that he was ineligible for benefits. The notice stated “This decision is final unless an appeal is filed on or before 10-23-0.”

On October 14,1970, the claimant visited a legal aid office and consulted an attorney there, who agreed to handle the appeal. The attorney prepared a notice of appeal and a letter of transmittal in time to meet the October 23 deadline. But because of the large caseload processed through the attorney’s office and. the backlog of secretarial work, the claimant’s appeal was not typed and mailed out until October 25, and was not received at the unemployment insurance office until Monday, October 26.

The referee’s decision was to dismiss the appeal upon the ground it was untimely filed. In support of this decision he found that the appeal had been prepared in time but was filed late because of the internal office procedure in the office of the claimant’s attorney, and concluded that the claimant had not shown good cause for extending the 10-day period.

The claimant appealed to the respondent California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which affirmed the decision of the referee. The claimant then commenced this proceeding in the superior court, The court bear'd the case upon the administrative record, and found that the referee’s decision was unsupported by the weight of the evidence, and that the claimant had shown good cause for extending the 10-day period. The judgment of the superior court remanded the case to the respondent board to be determined on its merits.