GOLDBAUM v.REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
The California Constitution (art. IX, § 9, subd. (a)) grants the Regents of the University of California (the Regents) " 'broad powers to organize and govern the university and limits the Legislature's power to regulate either the university or the [R]egents.' " (Miklosy v. Regents of University of California (2008) 44 Cal.4th 876, 889.) The Regents "functions in some ways like an independent sovereign, retaining a degree of control over the terms and scope of its own liability." (Id. at p. 890.) The Legislature, however, may regulate the Regents's conduct in limited areas. "[G]eneral police power regulations governing private persons and corporations may be applied to the university," as well as regulations of "statewide concern not involving internal university affairs." (San Francisco Labor Council v. Regents of University of California (1980) 26 Cal.3d 785, 789 (San Francisco Labor Council).)
Courts have consistently held the Regents is exempt from statutes regulating the wages and benefits of employees and other workers, including those pertaining to prevailing wages, overtime pay, and indemnification for the cost of work uniforms and maintenance, on the ground those matters are internal affairs of the university that do not come within any of the exceptions to constitutional immunity. (San Francisco Labor Council, supra, 26 Cal.3d at p. 788; Regents of University of California v. Aubry (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 579, 587-588 (Aubry); Kim v. Regents of University of California (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 160, 167 (Kim); In re Work Uniform Cases (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 328, 344.)
The question on appeal here, one of first impression, is peripherally related to these wage and benefit opinions: Is the Regents constitutionally immune from the reach of Labor Code section 218.5,[1] which mandates an award of attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party in an "action brought for the nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or . . . pension fund contributions"? We answer the question in favor of the Regents's autonomy, and accordingly, affirm a judgment denying Michael H. Goldbaum's motion for attorney fees in an action against the Regents to establish his eligibility for pension fund benefits.
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