{"id":1995,"date":"2021-07-02T12:54:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T12:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stonebusailah.com\/?p=1995"},"modified":"2021-07-02T12:54:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T12:54:17","slug":"retirees-cannot-appeal-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/2021\/07\/02\/retirees-cannot-appeal-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"RETIREES CANNOT APPEAL DISCIPLINE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Robert Rabe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 30, 2012, Deputy Sheriff Martin Deiro was injured on duty. Following surgery, Deiro did not return to work and remained on leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 1, 2015, Deiro applied to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) for service-connected disability retirement. The Department did not oppose the application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 17, 2015, the Department served Deiro with a letter of intent to terminate his employment, in connection with conduct the Department alleged brought discredit to the service. After a Skelly meeting, the Department notified Deiro that he was discharged, effective August 12, 2015. Deiro timely appealed the discharge to the Civil Service Commission, and on September 15, 2015, the Commission referred the matter to a hearing officer for an evidentiary hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 6, 2016, the LACERA Board of Retirement granted Deiro\u2019s application for a service-connected disability retirement. On August 22, 2016, LACERA issued a notice to Deiro stating that, \u201c[p]er your discussion with LACERA staff, your effective date of retirement is August 13 2015,\u201d which was the day after Deiro\u2019s discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 7, 2017, following a hearing, the hearing officer issued a proposed decision recommending that the discipline be reduced to a 30-day suspension. On April 26, 2017, the Department filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground Deiro had retired, and therefore the Commission lacked jurisdiction over any appeal related to his employment. On August 16, 2017, the Commission agreed and granted the Department\u2019s motion to dismiss Deiro\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deiro filed a petition for writ of mandate in Superior Court seeking to compel the Commission to complete his administrative appeal. The court denied Deiro\u2019s petition and entered judgment in favor of the Department. Deiro appealed to the Court of the Department. Deiro appealed to the Court of Appeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only issue, in this case, is whether the Commission could decide Deiro\u2019s administrative appeal after he retired. The Court held the Commission\u2019s dismissal of Diero\u2019s appeal was proper because the CSC had no jurisdiction to order reinstatement, or backpay, to a retired person whose \u201cfuture status as an employee by definition is no longer at issue.\u201d The Court noted it did not matter whether the retirement results from the retiree\u2019s own decision to retire, or as a result of a disability. In either case, the effect is the same: a retiree is no longer an employee, therefore, the Commission does not have authority to order he reinstatement of a non-employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal Principles <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission\u2019s jurisdiction comes from the Los Angeles County Charter. Here, the Commission has authority to act as an appellate body in very narrow circumstances, which includes appeals by employees regarding \u201cdischarges and reductions.\u201d The Court noted that several cases have held an employee who properly appealed his discharge or other discipline, but then resigned, retired, or died, was no longer an employee, and the Commission no longer had jurisdiction to continue to adjudicate his appeal. In short, the Court held that the Commission has authority to address only matters involving a member of the civil service. A person who has retired is no longer a member of the civil service. The Court went on to state that this is just as true for disability retirees as it is for retirees who choose to retire after years of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disposition <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Civil Service Commission\u2019s jurisdiction is controlled by the Los Angeles County Charter, this case is specific to Los Angeles County employees. State employees and most other County and City employees, whose retirement is controlled by the California Government Code, are able to retire after receiving a notice of termination and still appeal their discharge. This case makes clear the need for a Charter amendment so Los Angeles County law enforcement can be treated the same as most other government employees in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay Safe and Healthy!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Rabe is Stone Busailah, LLP\u2019s writs and appeals specialist. His 41 years practicing law include 16 years as a Barrister, Supreme Court of England and Wales, practicing in London, England.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author: Robert Rabe Facts On May 30, 2012, Deputy Sheriff Martin Deiro was injured on duty. Following surgery, Deiro did not return to work and remained on leave. On May 1, 2015, Deiro applied to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) for service-connected disability retirement. The Department did not oppose the application. On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disciplinary-appeal-hearings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villagegreentesting.com\/StoneBusailah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}