Calif. Sch. Emp Assn v. Compton Unified Sch Dist.

Petitioners, California School Employees Association, Troy Smith, and Kimberly Barney, appeal from a judgment denying their petition for a writ of mandate wherein petitioners sought to compel respondent, the Compton Unified School District (District), to set aside its decisions terminating the employment of Smith as a campus security representative and the employment of Barney as an account clerk, two classified employees of the District, and to compel the District to reinstate them with full backpay and benefits.

The fundamental question posed by this appeal is whether the District failed to follow the mandatory dismissal procedures provided for in the Education Code [1] in terminating Smith and Barney as probationary employees.

(1a) We conclude that rule 60.100.1 of the District is contrary to section 45301 and therefore void to the extent that it does not include holidays and vacation time in the computation of the probationary period of a classified employee. Accordingly, we hold that Smith and Barney were permanent classified employees at the time of their termination and therefore improperly dismissed, requiring the judgment to be reversed.

The…