MacHinists Automotive Trades District Lodge No. 190 v. Utility Trailer Sales Co.
MacHinists Automotive Trades District Lodge No. 190 v. Utility Trailer Sales Co.
Dissenting Opinion
I dissent.
The record of arbitration proceedings shows that during the 1977 contract negotiations between the union and employer, the union proposed that the employer, in effect, be required to provide “Tool Insurance” (straight reimbursement for loss), and that the employer refused to place a provision of this
Labor Code section 2800 provides, “An employer shall in all cases indemnify his employee for losses caused by the employer’s want of ordinary care.” It is significant that when the Legislature enacted section 2800.1 (musician’s instruments), it placed the new statute directly after section 2800, indicating that it is a specific example of the kind of negligence for which an employer must indemnify an employee under section 2800, not section 2802. The analogy between a musician whose instrument is left on the employer’s premises and a mechanic whose tools are left at his place of employment is clear. In either case the worker is entitled to recover for loss occasioned by the employer’s negligence.
Labor Code section 2802, on the other hand, imposes strict liability, but only for “all that the employee necessarily expends or loses in direct consequence of the discharge of his duties as such, . . .” I believe the majority reaches an incorrect result by placing undue emphasis on the term “direct consequence” and failing to consider the entire context in which that term appears. Thus, while it cannot be seriously argued that Bowers’ loss would not have occurred but for his employment, neither can it be said that the weekend burglary of Employer’s premises resulted in a loss which Bowers “necessarily” incurred “in direct consequence of the discharge of his duties as such, ...” (Italics added.)
Cases arising under Labor Code section 2802 are few. Those decisions construing the statute indicate that it was intended to cover such necessary expenditures and losses as those incurred by reason of a salesman being sent to various counties to sell goods (see Automobile etc. Co. v. Salladay (1921) 55 Cal.App. 219 [203 P. 163]) or those incurred by a reporter defending a suit by a third person for his conduct in the course and scope of his employment (Douglas v. Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (1975) 50 Cal.App.3d 449 [123 Cal.Rptr. 683]).
If Bowers had suffered loss or damage to his tools while he was working, Labor Code section 2802 would apply. But where, as here, the loss was one which did not “necessarily” occur as a “direct consequence” of his work “as such,” the Employer should be liable only for loss occasioned by lack of ordinary care under section 2800.
I would therefore hold that Bowers could only recover for loss of his tools under Labor Code section 2800, and I would remand the cause for consideration of the question whether the loss was occasioned by employer’s want of ordinary care.
Respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied May 19, 1983. Grodin, J., did not participate therein.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
On this appeal by an employee (Bowers) and his union, Machinists Automotive Trades District Lodge No. 190 of Northern California
The facts were not in dispute and were found as follows by the court: Bowers, a refrigeration mechanic, pursuant to the custom of the industry, furnished the tools necessary to do his assigned work. Bower’s tools were very heavy and were kept in two toolboxes. Three men were needed to move one toolbox; the other could be moved only by forklift.
Bowers’ tools were kept inside the inner building of the Employer’s shop. Before the Thanksgiving weekend of 1977, Bowers locked his tools in the inner office provided by the employer by welding a steel bar across the inner door. The tools were stolen in a burglary over that weekend. Bowers’ tools were valued at over $8,000. The Employer refused to reimburse him. The parties submitted the question of whether Bowers had a right to reimbursement to arbitration under their collective bargaining agreement. After the arbitrator rendered a decision in favor of the Employer, Bowers commenced the instant summary judgment proceedings; the matter was submitted on the transcript of the arbitration proceedings and the additional briefs and argument of the parties.
Section 2802, in pertinent part, provides: “An employer shall indemnify his employee for all that the employee necessarily expends or loses in direct consequence of the discharge of his duties as such . . . .” (Italics added.) The question here is whether the loss occurred in direct consequence of the employment.
Preliminarily, we dispose of the Employer’s contention that Bowers’ statutory claim was preempted by federal labor law. The Employer argues that the terms of Bowers’ employment were a subject of collective bargaining, and the final resolution of that issue in the bargaining supersedes any state law. The record, however, indicates that here the arbitrator concluded that the issue of indemnity for the loss of tools was not resolved by collective bargaining, as the parties failed to agree upon a proposal covering tool losses. The record also indicates that the Employer intended to deal with the indemnity issue at its own discretion on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, the fact that a matter is a subject of collective bargaining does not preclude the state from adopting standards to protect the welfare of workers. (Industrial Welfare Com. v. Superior Court (1980) 27 Cal.3d 690, 728 [166 Cal.Rptr. 331, 613 P.2d 579].) In any event, Bowers’ statutory right to indemnity is independent of any
While Bowers was required to provide the tools necessary for his work pursuant to the custom of the industry,
The trial court and the Employer relied on Earll v. McCoy (1953) 116 Cal.App.2d 44 [253 P.2d 86],
Nor do we find helpful the bailment analysis often utilized by other jurisdictions.
Collins v. Boeing Company (1971) 4 Wn.App. 705 [483 P.2d 1282, 46 A.L.R.3d 1294], also involved the theft of the employee’s tools from the premises of the employer. The tools belonged to the employee, were kept in his locked box and weighed about 80 pounds; some of the tools were required by the employer; additional ones were voluntarily supplied by the employee; the evidence did not disclose the weight of the employer-required tools and the employee-added ones. Boeing supervisors periodically required employees to undergo toolbox inspections on exit and ingress in order to check the presence of Boeing tools and as part of the 24-hour-a-day security arrangements. While we do not agree with the conclusion of no duty of care reached by the Boeing court, we have found its careful examination of public policy alternatives helpful in construing our statutes.
The Boeing court reasoned that there was no bailment for mutual benefit and hence no duty of care by the employer because the basic reason for the presence of the tools on the premises was the convenience of the employee, although there was an incidental benefit to the employer through the reduction of exit and ingress delays and a possible speedup in work because of the additional tools supplied by the employee.
The Boeing court also noted that no bailment was created as the employee had not surrendered possession to the employer and the employee was in a better position to exercise control than the employer. The court opined, however, that the employer’s ingress and egress inspection requirements and security measures might suggest a change of control and assumption by the employer of
In any event, unlike the court in Boeing, or those jurisdictions that have utilized a bailment analysis to reject the employer’s liability (for a recent example, see Farmer v. Machine Craft, Inc. (Ala.App. 1981) 406 So.2d 981, and see other cases collected at 46 A.L.R.3d 1306, supra), we are faced with construing sections 2800,
We hold that section 2802 applies where, as here, the custom of the trade requires the employee to supply his own tools for the performance of his duties, and while the employer does not require the employee to leave his tools on the employer’s premises, the tools are too heavy to be transported routinely to and from the place of employment. Bowers’ tools were left locked on the premises in the inner room provided by the Employer. The loss therefore was incurred in direct consequence of the discharge of the employee’s duties, and was therefore incidental to his employment. (Cf. Waugh v. University of Hawaii (1980) 63 Hawaii 117 [621 P.2d 957, 970-971], university held to have duty of ordinary care toward professor’s laboratory research materials left in its care during a sabbatical on the basis of the general rule that all persons are required to use ordinary care to prevent the property of others from being injured.)
We conclude that when section 2802 is construed with sections 2800 and 2800.1, it provides Bowers a statutory right to indemnity for the loss incurred in direct consequence of the employment.
The judgment is reversed.
Appellants shall have their costs on appeal.
White, P. J., concurred.
All statutory references hereinafter are to the Labor Code, unless otherwise indicated.
In the instant case, the trial court adopted the arbitrator’s finding that Bowers supplied his own tools pursuant to the custom of the industry, and rejected Bowers’ contention that he was required to furnish the tools as a condition of employment.
We note that although the petition for hearing of that case was denied April 9, 1953, Chief Justice Gibson, Justice Carter and Justice Traynor were of the opinion that the petition should have been granted. (Id., at p. 47.)
Usually a bailment analysis results in relieving the employer of liability unless negligence can be established; the more recent bailment cases, however, imply an involuntary bailment for mutual benefit and hold the employer liable.
There was also evidence that the locks on the premises of the employer were ineffective and that three to four prior attempts had been made to enter the locked premises where the tools had been kept, at least one of them successful.
Section 2801 pertains to personal injury actions.
This section, added by Statutes 1973, chapter 497, section 1, page 972, provides: “An employer shall in all cases take reasonable and necessary precautions to safeguard musical instruments and equipment, belonging to an employed musician, located on premises under the employer’s control. In the event such equipment is damaged or stolen as a result of the employer’s failure or refusal to take such reasonable and necessary precautions, the employer shall be liable to the owner for repair or replacement thereof if the employed musician has taken reasonable and precautions to safeguard the musical instruments and equipment.
“For the purposes of this section: (a) ‘employer’ includes a purchaser of services and the
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MACHINISTS AUTOMOTIVE TRADES DISTRICT LODGE NO. 190 OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Et Al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. UTILITY TRAILER SALES COMPANY, Defendant and Respondent
- Cited By
- 12 cases
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- Published