Baker v. County of Orange CA4/3
Thom Baker (Baker) sued his current employer, the County of Orange, claiming he was entitled to be reclassified from engineering technician III to senior project manager. Baker alleged that he was assigned the duties of a senior project manager in the parks and recreation department in a 2009 reorganization. He asserted proper classification according to his actual duties would entitle him to a retroactive pay increase as well as an increase in current pay. The County successfully demurred on the theory Baker had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies by not submitting a request to his union, the OCEA. Baker, said the County, was required under a memorandum of understanding (the contract) between the County and the OCEA to first approach the union for reclassification.
We reverse. The doctrine of administrative remedies does not apply unless there is an adequate remedy. That is not the case here. Here, there are two major gaps in the contract:
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