Zuniga v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Com

In Zuniga v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Com. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 1255, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (Sheriff's Department) suspended a deputy sheriff without pay when he was criminally charged with grand theft and attempted receipt of stolen property. (See L.A. County Civil Service Com. Rules, rule 18.01(A) "an employee may be suspended by the appointing power ... until ... the expiration of 30 calendar days after the judgment of conviction or the acquittal of the offense charged in a criminal complaint or indictment has become final".) The deputy requested a hearing before the Commission to challenge his suspension without pay. A hearing was granted and held in abeyance until the deputy's criminal case was concluded. The deputy served his suspension for 10 months, during which time his criminal case remained unresolved, and then elected to take retirement. (Zuniga, supra, 137 Cal.App.4th at p. 1257.) Two weeks after the deputy retired, the criminal case against him was dismissed. Five months later, the deputy's civil service appeal of his suspension without pay came before a hearing officer appointed by the Commission. At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer rejected the Sheriff's Department's position that the deputy's suspension had been proper simply because he had been charged in a criminal case. Instead the hearing officer accepted the deputy's claim that no discipline was warranted because the Sheriff's Department had not presented evidence supporting the truth of the criminal charges. The hearing officer recommended that the deputy receive full backpay for the suspension period. The Commission rejected the recommendation of its hearing officer, and, instead, sustained the suspension without pay because the Sheriff's Department had met its burden by showing the deputy had been charged with two felonies. It concluded a suspension was appropriate while criminal charges were pending. (Zuniga, supra, 137 Cal.App.4th at p. 1258.) The deputy then filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate, challenging the Commission's decision to sustain his suspension without pay. The trial court denied the deputy's writ petition.