Keylon

BACKGROUND

The City employed Keylon as a public safety dispatcher. The City is a public agency and thus Keylon was a public employee. Keylon, as a permanent public employee, had a property interest in the continuation of her employment that was protected by due process. (Skelly, supra, 15 Cal.3d at p. 206.) It is undisputed that Keylon could only be discharged for cause and was entitled to due process in connection with her discharge. Following an administrative investigation, Police Chief Barry Mann served Keylon with a notice of intent to discipline. This notice called for termination of Keylon’s employment for conduct related to bringing a loaded handgun to work. At Keylon’s request, a pre-termination Skelly hearing was held on April 28, 2011. Mann served as the hearing officer. Keylon responded to the charges but was not permitted to explain that she brought the gun to work because she feared her husband. Mann decided to uphold the termination decision effective April 28 and advised Keylon in writing that she had a right to an evidentiary hearing before the city manager. Keylon appealed Mann’s decision to the city manager, Darrell Fonseca. Keylon acknowledged that, at the…