California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Chronister v. City of Oxnard, 2d Civil No. B267929 (Cal. App. 2017):
Appellant claims that respondents failed to afford him an opportunity for an administrative appeal in violation of section 3304, subdivision (b) (3304(b)), which provides, "No punitive action . . . shall be undertaken by any public agency against any public safety officer who has successfully completed the probationary period that may be required by his or her employing agency without providing the public safety officer with an opportunity for administrative appeal." As used in section 3304(b), "punitive action means any action that may lead to dismissal, demotion, suspension, reduction in salary, written reprimand, or transfer for purposes of punishment." ( 3303, italics added.) "Although section 3304 specifies that the officer must be provided an opportunity for an administrative appeal, it does not specify how the appeal process is to be implemented. At a minimum, section 3304 has been held to require that the officer be afforded an evidentiary hearing before a neutral fact finder. [Citations.]" (Giuffre v. Sparks (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 1322, 1329.)
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