Richmond v. California Employment Stabilization Commission

DOOLING, J. This is an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court in and for the City and County of San Francisco denying petitioner-appellant Dora C. Richmond’s peti[311]tion for writ of mandate. By the petition appellant was afforded review of a final administrative decision of the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board that she did not have a valid claim for benefits under the California Unemployment Insurance Act.

Appellant was employed in San Francisco for a 10-year period until January 19, 1951, when her employment was terminated. On January 22, 1951, appellant registered for work and filed a claim for benefits with the Department of Employment. Before any benefits were paid under this claim she again became employed. April 10, 1951, she left this employment because of ill health. On April 11, 1951, appellant filed a claim for unemployment insurance disability benefits and received such benefits through October 16, 1951. On October 30, 1951, she reopened her claim for unemployment insurance benefits (filed January 22, 1951) and received these benefits through January 21, 1952. Appellant filed a new claim for unemployment insurance benefits on January 22, 1952. It is the denial of the January 22, 1952 claim that is here in dispute.

The trial court concluded that appellant had not been paid sufficient wages within the 12-month period following the filing of her first claim on January 22,1951, to entitle her to receive further benefits. This conclusion was based upon sections 52.6 and 53, subdivision (a) of the Unemployment Insurance Act (now substantially reenacted as Unempl. Ins. Code, §§ 1277 and 1281, subd. (a)).

Certain other provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Act as they affected appellant’s claims must be discussed in order to understand the precise problem involved. Section 6, subdivision (r) of the act (now Unempl. Ins. Code, § 1275) provided that unemployment benefits shall be based on wages paid in the “base period.” It defined “base period” for benefit years beginning in November, December, and January as “the four calendar quarters ended in the next preceding month of June.” Section 6, subdivision (q) (now Unempl. Ins. Code, § 1276) defined “benefit year” as “the one-year period beginning with the first day of the week with respect to which the individual first files a valid claim for benefits. ’ ’

Since appellant filed her first claim on January 22,1951, her “benefit year” on that claim began in January, 1951, and under the terms of section 6, subdivision (r), the “base period” for the calculation of her benefits was the four calen