Decision 0730H – Regents of the University of California (Association of Graduate Student Employees)

Gov. Code section 3562(f), requiring two-prong balancing test to compare educational objectives to services performed is coupled with a determination of whether the "purposes of the Act" would be furthered to include graduate students as employees under HEERA; p. 48. The Board found most graduate student researchers and instructors were not employees; p. 54.

Where language of the statute is clear and unambiguous, the construction intended by the Legislature is obvious from the language used. The Board compared "educational objective" to actual "services performed" to determine which was "subordinate" per Gov. Code 3562(f); pp. 29-31. The term "educational objectives" encompasses more than a desire to get a degree and more than career goals and the Board will not confine itself to looking solely at subjective opinions of the students, but will consider the mutual objectives of the U.C. and the students; pp. 37-40.