California Employment Commission v. Bates

EDMONDS, J. California Employment Commission, formerly Unemployment Reserves Commission, which administers the Unemployment Insurance Act (Stats. 1935, Chap. 352, p. 1226, as amended; Deering’s Gen. Laws, 1935 Supp., Act 8780d, as amended), sued for contributions assertedly payable upon the amounts earned by the carriers of the Pasadena Independent from 1936 to 1940. The trial court found that E. D. Bates and F. F. Runyon, the owners and publishers of the newspaper, were not employers within the meaning of the statute and that the carriers were independent contractors. The commission has appealed from the judgment rendered against it on these findings and the question presented for decision is substantially the same as that determined in California Employment Com. v. Los Angeles Down Town Shopping News Corp., ante, p. 421 [150 P.2d 186].

The facts are undisputed. During the years for which contributions are claimed, respondents as copartners were en[434]gaged in the publication and distribution of the Pasadena Independent. In 1936 the Independent, was judicially determined to be a newspaper of general circulation under section 4460 of the Political Code; it has not been admitted by the United States Post Office as second class mail matter. The publication was delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week throughout the city of Pasadena and vicinity by carrier boys, practically all of whom were under the age of 18 years. The city or general distribution area was divided into approximately 200 routes. Although the price of the paper was 15 cents per month, in the absence of a stop order or notice to the contrary, the carrier left a paper at each residence on his route regardless of whether or not a subscription had been obtained.

Some of the boys were assigned to routes upon an application to carry the paper. Often an applicant had to wait until a route was open. Carriers were also secured through advertisements, and very often a boy was referred to the paper by one who was then working for it. When a boy was selected, the terms of a standard contract were explained to him. This contract, with a letter of transmittal, was mailed to the boy’s parents for their signatures. Under the contract the carrier acquired no right or ownership in his route or subscription list and he could be discharged at any time the respondents desired to do so.