Hawkins v. State Personnel Board CA3

Filed 3/18/15 Hawkins v. State Personnel Board CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

SHEILA HAWKINS, C074345

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. 34-2013- 80001363-CU-WM-GDS) v.

STATE PERSONNEL BOARD,

Defendant;

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,

Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

On her first day back to work at real party in interest Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) after being demoted for harassing other employees, plaintiff Sheila Hawkins sent a harassing e-mail to an employee about that employee’s work hours. Terminated, Hawkins contends that defendant State Personnel Board (Board) abused its discretion by sustaining her termination. She also contends that the administrative law judge’s credibility determination is not entitled to deference because the administrative

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law judge (ALJ) did not refer to specific evidence to support the determination in her ruling. We conclude the Board did not abuse its discretion in sustaining Hawkins’s termination. We also conclude that the ALJ properly stated her reasons for her credibility determination. BACKGROUND Hawkins became an employee for the State of California in 1978. In 2002, she received a five percent salary reduction for rude and discourteous treatment of other employees. She began her work for CalVet in 2009. As a private postsecondary education administrator, she supervised other employees at CalVet, including Latanaya Johnson. In 2009, Johnson asked to use three days of bereavement leave because of her brother’s death. Hawkins denied the request and told her she would be considered absent without leave if she missed a staff meeting. Human resources intervened to allow the bereavement leave. In 2011, Johnson confidentially expressed frustration with Hawkins’s management style through e-mail. But Hawkins sent Johnson’s e-mail to 11 others. Hawkins solicited other employees of the same classification as Johnson to “mentor” Johnson. And Hawkins criticized Johnson for suspending a school’s participation in the education program for violation of federal law. In response to Johnson’s statement that the school had violated federal law, Hawkins said, “I don’t care. Make it go away.” Johnson filed a formal complaint against Hawkins with CalVet’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office. Also in 2011, Hawkins berated another subordinate for not submitting a leave usage plan, when the plan had already been submitted. The subordinate also filed a complaint against Hawkins with CalVet. CalVet opened an investigation and informed Hawkins that she no longer was supervising Johnson and directed Hawkins to have no contact with Johnson during the