Traub

In this appeal from denial of a writ of mandate, plaintiff seeks to compel the Board of Retirement of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (Board or Retirement Board) to grant him a retirement allowance for service-connected disability. The trial court found that he was psychiatrically incapacitated for work because of stress resulting from the county’s unsuccessful attempt to dismiss him for dealing in illegal drugs, but concluded that the incapacity was not service-connected because it did not “aris[e] out of and in the course of his employment” as required by Government Code section 31720. The issue is whether dis ability from an employer’s investigation of, and dismissal for, employee wrongdoing is service-connected when (1) proof of the charges would establish misconduct outside the scope of employment but (2) the charges are not proved and the dismissal is set aside.

We conclude that psychiatric injury resulting from an employer’s investigation of ultimately unproved charges against an employee arises out of and in the course of the employment whether or not the alleged misconduct was within the scope of employment. Accordingly, we…