Desmond Carter v. County of Los Angeles

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff-Appellant Desmond Carter (“Carter”) appeals from the district court’s order of May 25, 2012, granting summary judgment to defendants. We affirm.

Carter was not deprived of a property interest when his position at the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety (“OPS”) was eliminated for economic reasons. Neither the L.A. County Civil Service Rules (the “Civil Service Rules”) nor the Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act, Cal. Gov.Code § 3300 et seq. (the “Bill of Rights Act”), gave Carter a property interest in continuing his employment after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate OPS. See Am. Fed’n of State Emps. v. County of Los Angeles, 146 Cal.App.3d 879 , 194 Cal.Rptr. 540, 546 (1983). As for the Bill of Rights Act, layoffs are not included within its definition of “punitive action,” see Cal. Gov.Code § 3303, and other provisions of California law “strongly suggest that the right to an administrative appeal [against punitive action under the Act] does not apply where police officers are laid off as part of a mass reduction in personnel due, for example, to budgetary constraints.” White v. County of Sacramento, 31 Cal.3d…