Gomez v. State Personnel Board CA3

Filed 6/12/25 Gomez v. State Personnel Board CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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) ---- JESUS GOMEZ, C100533 Petitioner and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 34-2022- 80004048-CU-WM-GDS) v. STATE PERSONNEL BOARD, Respondent; DEPARTMENT OF THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL, Real Party in Interest and Appellant. The Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) dismissed Jesus Gomez after he claimed overtime for time he spent at home not working. Gomez afterward sought review from the State Personnel Board (the Board) but the Board sustained the dismissal, finding, among other things, that Gomez acted dishonestly and that dismissal 1 was an appropriate penalty. Gomez then petitioned the trial court to set aside the Board’s decision, largely on the ground that insufficient evidence showed he acted dishonestly. Agreeing with Gomez, the trial court granted his petition. On CHP’s appeal, we reverse. BACKGROUND I Overtime at CHP’s East Los Angeles Office and Overtime for Caltrans CHP and the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have entered into several agreements for traffic safety services. One is known as the Maintenance Zone Enhanced Enforcement Program (MAZEEP) agreement. Under this agreement, CHP officers provide traffic safety services for Caltrans and Caltrans then reimburses CHP for the officers’ time and mileage. Participating officers can receive overtime compensation for time spent on this program. Officers from several CHP offices have participated in this program, including officers in CHP’s East Los Angeles office (the East LA office). That office has a standard operating procedure covering overtime, part of which discusses overtime under the MAZEEP agreement. Starting in 2012, this overtime procedure stated in relevant part: “If Caltrans ends 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.”1 The East LA office added this language following concerns that officers were claiming full overtime even when Caltrans ended details early—which sometimes happens because of equipment issues, low supplies, and other unforeseen circumstances. Before this amendment to the standard operating procedure, some sergeants initially 1 In past years, a typical MAZEEP shift covered six and a half to eight hours. Under the MAZEEP agreement, Caltrans agreed that when a CHP officer reports for detail and works less than four hours, Caltrans will still pay a minimum of four hours of overtime. 2 dismissed concerns about this overtime practice, reasoning that officers should still be compensated for a full shift even if it ended early. But in time, the sergeants at the East LA office agreed that to receive full compensation in this circumstance, the officers would need to remain available to Caltrans by standing by at the office. After the East LA office added this language, a sergeant photocopied the standard operating procedure, highlighted the new overtime language, and posted it on a bulletin board next to overtime sign-up sheets for MAZEEP. The document remained on the bulletin board until about April 2016. This sergeant also directed those in charge of shift briefings to advise officers about the new overtime language. These individuals then covered this language in their shift briefings for about a week in 2012. II Gomez’s Dismissal Gomez joined CHP as an officer in 2003 and transferred to the East LA office in 2015. All parties agree that between May 2017 and March 2018, Gomez participated in 37 MAZEEP details that Caltrans ended before the contractual end time. On each of these occasions, Gomez checked out a patrol car before the start of the detail and returned it afterward. And on four of th