Thornton

*1408 Opinion

—The question on this appeal from a judgment of dismissal after a demurrer was sustained without leave to amend is whether, under Government Code section 996.4 or Labor Code section 2802, an employee of a public agency who is hired into a different position within the agency has a right to reimbursement from the agency for attorney fees and other expenses the employee incurred in an investigation by law enforcement of potential conflicts of interest in the hiring, when no formal civil action or proceeding was commenced against the employee. We hold the answer is no and affirm the judgment.

I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Underlying Facts

Because this case comes to us after entry of a judgment of dismissal based on the sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend, we accept as true the well-pleaded material allegations of the complaint. (Shoemaker v. Myers (1990) 52 Cal.3d 1, 7 [ 276 Cal.Rptr. 303 , 801 P.2d 1054 ].) Those allegations are as follows;

In January 2000, Governor Gray Davis appointed Cynthia K. Thornton to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (the Board), and elevated her to chairperson in May of that year. Thornton held…