On Monday morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinions in Busker v. Wabtec Corp. and Mendoza v. Fonseca McElroy Grinding. (Briefs here; oral argument videos here and here.)
Both cases come to the court from the Ninth Circuit under rule 8.548.
In Busker, the court in November 2018 agreed to answer this question posed by the Ninth Circuit: “Whether work installing electrical equipment on locomotives and rail cars (i.e., the ‘onboard work’ for Metrolink’s PTC project) falls within the definition of ‘public works’ under California Labor Code § 1720(a)(1) either (a) as constituting ‘construction’ or ‘installation’ under the statute or (b) as being integral to other work performed for the PTC project on the wayside (i.e., the ‘field installation work’).”
In Mendoza, the court in March 2019 agreed to answer this question for the Ninth Circuit: “Is operating engineers’ offsite ‘mobilization work’ — including the transportation to and from a public works site of roadwork grinding equipment — performed ‘in the execution of [a] contract for public work,’ Cal. Lab. Code §1772, such that it entitles workers to ‘not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is performed’ pursuant to section 1771 of the California Labor Code?”
These will be the last opinions in cases argued on the late-May calendar. After Monday, there will be seven cases left in the summer pipeline.
The Busker and Mendoza opinions can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.