Flippin

Appellant and cross-respondent Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the DWP) discharged petitioner, respondent, and cross-appellant Kenneth Flippin (respondent) from his employment as a truck driver after he was found sleeping in a hammock beneath a DWP truck on a public street during work hours. Respondent appealed the DWP’s decision, and a majority of the Los Angeles City Board of Civil Service Commissioners (the Board), sustained the penalty after sustaining the DWP’s charges that respondent was sleeping while on duty in public view, was insubordinate to his superiors when confronted about the misconduct, and had engaged in misconduct seriously reflecting on the City of Los Angeles and its employees. The Board unanimously concluded that before discharging respondent, the DWP had satisfied the due process requirements imposed by Skelly v. State Personnel Bd. (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194 [ 124 Cal.Rptr. 14 , 539 P.2d 774 ] (Shelly).

Respondent petitioned for administrative mandamus to compel the Board to reinstate his employment, claiming that the DWP denied him his due process right to an impartial Shelly hearing officer; that there was insufficient evidence to support…