Hudson

I. BACKGROUND

Hudson is an African American woman who served as a correctional officer with CDCR during most of the period spanning 2008 through 2017. For about the first year and one-half of her CDCR service, she worked at Pelican Bay State Prison. The remainder of Hudson’s CDCR service was at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (Donovan). During her time at Donovan, Hudson experienced two adverse employment actions that figure prominently in this appeal. A. The 2016 Termination of Hudson’s Employment, and the Decision of the State Personnel Board (SPB) Revoking This Termination The first of the two adverse employment actions occurred in 2016. It was a termination of Hudson’s employment, the stated basis for which was a determination by CDCR that, one day in 2015, Hudson had “left her post . . . 25 minutes before the end of her scheduled shift without permission and [had] falsely indicated on her sign-in/sign-out sheet that she [had] worked until the end of her shift.” Hudson appealed the 2016 termination to the SPB, and prevailed. Explaining his reasoning, the administrative law judge (ALJ) who presided over the matter wrote in his proposed decision that: “[T]he…