GENERAL LEGAL PRINCIPLES; AGENCY – Actual Authority

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Actual agency exists “when the agent is really employed by the principal.” (Civ. Code, § 2299.) “Actual authority is such as a principal intentionally confers upon the agent, or intentionally, or by want of ordinary care, allows the agent to believe himself to possess.” (Id., § 2316.) Because an actual agent is employed by the principal, the primary inquiry in assessing actual authority is whether the agent was acting within the scope of his or her authority. (City of San Diego (2015) PERB Decision No. 2464-M, p. 15; Inglewood Unified School District (1990) PERB Decision No. 792, p. 19; Vista Verde Farms v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd. (1981) 29 Cal.3d 307, 312.) The Board concluded that OE3 failed to establish a District employee acted with actual authority when he solicited signatures in support of a decertification petition as there was no evidence in the record that the District conferred actual authority upon the employee to act on the District’s behalf or allowed the employee to believe he possessed such authority. (pp. 22-23.)