California Highway Patrol v. Diaz CA2/4

Filed 3/3/26 California Highway Patrol v. Diaz CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL, B342782

Petitioner and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 23STCP00914) v.

GERARD DIAZ,

Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Curtis A. Kin, Judge. Affirmed. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Chris A. Knudsen, Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth C. Jones, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Jaclyn V. Younger, Deputy Attorney General, for Petitioner and Appellant. Mastagni Holstedt and Steven W. Welty for Respondent.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) terminated Gerard Diaz from his position for a single instance of misconduct. Diaz had falsely claimed 30 minutes of unearned overtime compensation. After he appealed the dismissal, the State Personnel Board (Board) reduced the penalty to a one- year suspension. CHP then filed an administrative mandate petition, arguing that the Board abused its discretion in determining a one-year suspension was the appropriate penalty for his misconduct. The trial court denied the petition. We affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND I. MAZEEP Detail CHP and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) entered into interagency agreements for traffic safety services, including the Maintenance Zone Enhanced Enforcement Program (MAZEEP) agreement. Under this agreement, CHP officers provided traffic safety services for Caltrans, and Caltrans, in turn, reimbursed CHP for the hours the officers worked, as well as for travel time to and from the worksite from the CHP office. CHP officers received overtime compensation for this voluntary assignment. Participating officers had to submit a CHP 415 form claiming overtime hours worked on the MAZEEP detail. CHP’s East Los Angeles Area (ELAA) office had a standard operating procedure to address overtime MAZEEP details. The policy provided, in part, “Officers working overtime such as . . . MAZEEP details shall remain available during the duration of the reimbursable contract. If Caltrans terminates a detail early due to unforeseen circumstances, but continues to pay [the officer] for the duration of the contract, the officer shall remain available to Caltrans by standing by at the office.”