Robinson

*70 MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiff Richard Robinson (“Robinson”), a sergeant with the Los Angeles County-Office of Public Safety (“OPS”), filed a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the County of Los Angeles (“Los Angeles”) and several OPS officers (“Defendants”) alleging that he was denied promotion in violation of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights because he made reports of misconduct within his department. Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that Robinson’s reports were not protected speech because they were made as part of his professional duties or because he failed to present the reports through the chain of command as required by written department policy. The district court denied the motion, finding “genuine issues of material fact” on the scope of Robinson’s job duties and holding that a violation of a written chain of command policy was not dispositive, but was merely one of the factors to be considered as part of the balancing test established in Pickering v. Bd. of Educ., 391 U.S. 563, 571 , 88 S.Ct. 1731 , 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968).

Although a district court’s denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity is subject to immediate…