County of Los Angeles Dept. of Health Services v. Civil Service Com. of County of Los Angeles

This appeal presents a single question of law for our determination: Where civil service rules vest a civil service commission with jurisdiction over an employee’s appeal of her discharge, including an attendant claim for a resulting loss of pay, does the employee’s retirement during the pendency of civil service proceedings divest the commission of jurisdiction over the civil service appeal? Taking our lead from the opinion in Zuniga v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Com. (2006) 137 Cal.App.4th 1255 [ 40 Cal.Rptr.3d 863 ], we answer the question “yes.”

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1972, the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services (the Department) hired Margaret Latham as a staff nurse. By 1998, the Department had promoted Latham through the ranks to an administrative position as an assistant nursing director, where she oversaw the Nursing Resource Center. In that position, Latham had responsibilities over staffing and budgeting matters, collective bargaining, employee personnel issues, nursing practice standards, workload statistics, and performance improvement activities. As required by regulations governing patient care, the Department, under…