Valenzuela

Real party in interest and appellant, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (hereinafter Department), dismissed its employee, petitioner and respondent Luis A. Valenzuela, from his position as a corrections officer for failing a drug test. Valenzuela appealed to the State Personnel Board (the Board), on the basis that the positive drug test had been caused by his ingestion of Mexican diet medication that he had legally obtained in Mexico, and he was unaware that taking the medication could result in a positive test for amphetamines. The Board upheld the penalty.

Valenzuela filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate, requesting the superior court to vacate the Board’s order, asserting the dismissal decision was not supported by substantial evidence. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5.) The trial court granted the petition because, it found the Board had abused its discretion in upholding the termination, because there was no substantial evidence to support a conclusion that Valenzuela was on legally adequate notice, for due process purposes, that his foreign prescription could result in his being tested positive for amphetamines. The court also found no…