Description

The right to procedural due process is one of the most significant constitutional guarantees provided to citizens in general and to public employees in particular. Its entitlement has been created by statute, charter, ordinance, and other local laws or enactments. This pocket guide provides an overview of due process in public sector employment to assist employees and their employers in understanding their respective rights and obligations.

The guide explains who is protected, what actions are covered, what process is due, remedies for violations, and more. A section focuses on the due process rights afforded to several specific types of employees: state civil service, public officers, police officers, school district employees, and community college district employees. The Pocket Guide also includes a discussion of Skelly and other key cases on due process and the liberty interest.

The Due Process Guide includes:

• The most recent court decisions and relevant discussion of due process in the collective bargaining context
• The types of actions subject to due process protections, and those not covered
• The the process and procedures associated with investigations, pre-deprivation and post-deprivation stages
• Available remedies for pre- and post- deprivation violations
• Discussion of the Lybarger/Spielbauer admonition in the investigative stage, application of due process in the lay off context, and exhaustion of administrative processes requirement.

Author Emi Uyehara, now retired, was a partner in the San Francisco law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. Margot Rosenberg and Kate Hallward are partners in the law firm of Leonard Carder.