Jabola v. Pasadena Redevelopment Agency

Opinion

KINGSLEY, Acting P. J. Petitioner appeals from a judgment sustaining her termination as an employee of respondent agency. We reverse the judgment.

Petitioner had been employed by the agency for seven and one-half years, having been appointed as, and serving as, a principal accountant for the last two and one-half years. She applied for a raise in salary. Her raise was approved by her immediate supervisor (Mrs. Perez) and by Mr. Shepard, the executive director of the agency. Petitioner was asked to sign a “Personnel Action Form,” in which the raise was approved, but, for personal reasons refused to sign that form previously signed by her superiors. The form, a multipart, document would, in ordinary course, have been given to Ms. May, the administrative officer, after being executed by petitioner; Ms. May would then have seen that the copies were distributed to various divisions of the agency, one copy going to the payroll department, which would then process the raise for payment. In some unexplained fashion,1 the payroll form was delivered [922]to payroll without having been signed by petitioner or routed through Ms. May. On November 30, 1979, petitioner received a pay check, which included the raise involved. She cashed that check without mentioning its receipt to either Ms. Perez or Mr. Shepard. When the superiors learned of the receipt and cashing of the check, Mr. Shepard initiated a termination proceeding, charging that: (1) she had engaged “in conduct unbecoming an employee” and (2) that she “failed to satisfactorily perform thé duties required of her position.” Petitioner instituted a “grievance hearing” which resulted in a formal finding that petitioner was “guilty of conduct unbecoming an employee of the” agency.

Petitioner then instituted the present proceeding, by a petition for administrative mandate under section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The trial court, after receiving evidence, denied the petition. This appeal followed.

I

The agency contended below, and contends here, that it is not subject to Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5 and that the executive director can terminate any employee at will. We disagree. The rules of the agency expressly provide that an employee in the status of petitioner,2 may be terminated only for “cause,” that she is entitled to notice and, on request, to a hearing before the board of the agency. That procedure was followed in this case. It was early held in Temescal Water Co. v. Dept. of Public Works (1955) 44 Cal.2d 90 [280 P.2d 1] that Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5 applies whenever an agency exercises “an adjudicatory function in considering facts presented in an administrative hearing.” It is clear that that rule applies here and that petitioner utilized the appropriate procedure in instituting the present proceeding.