California School Employees Ass'n v. New Haven Unified School District

Opinion

MILLER, J. In its August 19, 1975, regular meeting, the Governing Board of New Haven Unified School District (hereafter District) adopted a 1975-1976 school calendar which included two “board holidays”: January 15, 1976, Martin Luther King Day, and May 5, 1976, Cinco de Mayo. The holidays were adopted as holidays solely for teachers and students. Classified employees were required to work on the two holidays and received no additional compensation. California School Employees Association (hereafter Association) then filed a petition for writ of mandate seeking holiday pay for the two holidays for classified employees of the District. Through stipulations and admissions, the issues were narrowed to the question of the rate of holiday pay and the question of which party had the right to make the election between monetary compensation and compensating time off.

The court below concluded (1) that the classified employees were entitled to the two holidays pursuant to Education Code section 13656; (2) that pursuant to the same statutoity authority, those classified employees who worked on the holidays were entitled to either get paid compensation in the amount of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay, or compensating time off at the rate of one and one-half days for each holiday worked in addition to the regular pay for such days; and (3) that it was within the discretion of the governing board of the District to determine whether classified employees who worked on Januaiy^ 15, 1976, or May 5, 1976, “will receive monitary [iic] compensation or compensating time off.” Judgment was entered in favor of the Association, and both sides appeal.

At the time of the hearing, Education Code section 13656, now section 45203, provided in pertinent part:

[922]“All employees a part of the classified service shall be entitled to the following paid holidays provided they are in a paid status during any portion of the working day immediately preceding or succeeding the holiday . . . any day declared a holiday under Section 877 or 5202 for classified or certificated employees....

“. . . When a classified employee is required to work on any of said holidays, he shall be paid compensation, or given compensating time off, for such work, in addition to the regular pay received for the holiday, at the rate of time and one-half his regular rate of pay.