Valenzuela v. Cal.State Personnel Bd.
Real party and appellant, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (hereinafter Department) dismissed its employee, petitioner and respondent Luis A. Valenzuela, from his position as a corrections officer for failing a drug test. Valenzuela appealed to the State Personnel Board (the Board), on the basis that the positive drug test had been caused by his ingestion of Mexican diet medication that he had legally obtained in Mexico, and he was unaware that taking the medication could result in a positive test for amphetamines. The Board upheld the penalty.
Valenzuela filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate, requesting the superior court to vacate the Board's order, asserting the dismissal decision was not supported by substantial evidence. (Code Civ. Proc., 1094.5.) The trial court granted the petition because it found the Board had abused its discretion in upholding the termination, because there was no substantial evidence to support a conclusion that Valenzuela was on legally adequate notice, for due process purposes, that his foreign prescription could result in his being tested positive for amphetamines. The court also found no substantial evidence that would have prevented assertion of a defense that the medication might have some legitimate medical use. (49 C.F.R. 40.137 (2007) [pertaining to duties of an appointed medical review officer to verify drug test results].) Valenzuela was ordered reinstated with backpay.
The Department contends we should reverse the trial court's decision because (1) the Board did not abuse its discretion by upholding the termination, in light of evidence that in the year 2000 and following, the Department had distributed some information and a memo warning employees about potential positive drug tests from unspecified foreign diet pills, and Valenzuela had heard of the memo; and (2) the Board correctly found that Valenzuela could not properly avail himself of the defense that this medication had some legitimate medical uses.
The Department's contentions of error are not supported by the record. We agree with the trial court that the Board abused its discretion in upholding the termination, under those circumstances, due to a lack of sufficient evidence supporting a finding of adequacy of the form and content of the notice given about the prohibited conduct. Court affirm the judgment granting the relief requested in the petition.
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