GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; AGENCY – In General

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“Agency is employed to impose liability on the charged party for the unlawful acts of its employees or representatives even when the principal is not at fault and takes no active part in the action.” (City of San Diego (2015) PERB Decision No. 2464-M, adopting proposed decision at p. 39, affd. sub nom. Boling v. Public Employment Relations Board (2018) 5 Cal.5th 898; Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math & Science High School et al. (2021) PERB Decision No. 2795, p. 44 [judicial appeal pending].) “Although labor boards adhere to common law principles of agency, they routinely apply these principles with reference to the broad, remedial purposes of the statutes they administer, rather than by strict application of concepts governing an employer’s responsibility to third parties for the acts of its employees.” (City of San Diego (2020) PERB Decision No. 2747-M, p. 15; Trustees of the California State University (2014) PERB Decision No. 2384-H, p. 40; International Ass’n of Machinists, Tool and Die Makers Lodge No. 35 v. National Labor Relations Board (1940) 311 U.S. 72, 88.) The party asserting an agency relationship bears the burden of proving it. (Inglewood Teachers Assn. v. Public Employment Relations Bd. (1991) 227 Cal.App.3d 767, 780.) Agency may be established by showing: (1) the purported agent had actual authority to act on behalf of the employer; (2) the purported agent had apparent authority to act on behalf of the employer; or (3) the employer ratified the purported agent’s conduct. (City of San Diego (2015) PERB Decision No. 2464-M, adopting proposed decision at pp. 38-39.) (pp. 21-22.)