Is The Penalty Really Appropriate?
People make mistakes. In most cases, responsible adults are often willing to admit they’ve made a mistake and are capable of learning from it and moving forward. While this may seem to be a simple notion of modern society, what happens when the person who made a mistake wears a ...Read More
Response to Adverse Comments in Personnel File
Response to Adverse Comments in Personnel File Disciplinary action can take many forms when it comes to public safety employees. Sometimes it is not as heavy as a suspension without pay or a demotion. Often correction may come in the form of a counseling memo or a “documentation of verbal ...Read More
Know your Audience: a Key to Skelly Success
Recently Sgt. Butler* received word that his rank as a correctional sergeant was being taken away and he was to be demoted to a correctional officer position. As anyone who has attained a supervisory rank knows, getting your stripes is generally a product of years of hard work. Not only ...Read More
Supervisor Demoted to Rank and File and then Reinstated
From supervisor to rank and file and back again Nursing Supervisor, Mario Lenzi recently found himself on the receiving end of a proposed demotion from supervisor to a rank and file position. Mario had over 20 years of service with the State with only a handful of counseling ...Read More
1 Week Suspension and Pay Reduction For Late Reports
Police Officer with Hayward PD was recently served with a notice of a 1 week suspension without pay in addition to a 1 pay step reduction for an entire year. The allegations giving rise to this discipline pertained to eleven departmental reports that were alleged to have been turned in ...Read More
Carefully Evaluating Evidence is Key to Skelly Success
Correctional Officer with San Joaquin County was recently given notice of a 3 day suspension without pay for allegations of sustained misconduct involving failure to appear for a subpoena. However, after the details were carefully examined by Goyette attorney Dan Thompson, he argued at the Skelly hearing that there was ...Read More
Two Proposed Suspensions Reduced
• Juvenile Institution Officer was served with notice of a 5 day suspension without pay for neglect of duty and other employee conduct violations. Goyette and Associates Attorney, Alia Khan represented the Officer at the Skelly hearing. Immediately following, the 5 day suspension was reduced to a 2 day suspension. ...Read More