Human Resources Academy II for Community College Districts

Further, districts must be careful not to allow four years to elapse before taking final action to terminate a convicted employee. Doing so could result in being precluded from terminating the employee. For example, if a district were to wait and the employee obtained a certificate of rehabilitation and dismissal in the interim, the District could no longer rely solely upon the conviction to dismiss pursuant to Section 87405 and could not dismiss pursuant to Section 87675 (arbitration) and 87680 (administrative hearing) because the underlying conduct was more than four years old. 2. C OMPULSORY L EAVE OF A BSENCE UPON B EING C HARGED WITH S EX OR C ONTROLLED S UBSTANCE O FFENSE In conjunction with the mandatory termination of employees convicted of sex or controlled substance offenses, Education Code section 87736 permits districts to place academic employees charged with these offenses on a compulsory leave of absence, “for a period of time extending for not more than 10 days after the date of the entry of the judgment in the proceedings.” The compulsory leave may be extended beyond the 10 days by serving upon the employee, within the 10 days, notice that the employee will be dismissed in 30 days unless the employee demands a hearing pursuant to section 87737. Compulsory leave under this section is unpaid, unless the employee posts a bond. If the employee is subsequently acquitted, or the charges dismissed, the district must reimburse the employee for the cost of the bond (if posted) or pay the employee for the period of absence. The duty to reimburse does not apply, however, if the district seeks to reinstate the acquitted employee, and he or she fails or refuses to return to work. Districts should note that nothing in this section precludes serving the employee with a Notice of Intent to Dismiss if the employee is acquitted. Conviction of a crime requires proof “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Thus, a district may have sufficient evidence of conduct warranting dismissal (i.e. a preponderance of the evidence) although there was insufficient evidence to convict. However, the district would have to establish grounds to dismiss pursuant to section 87732. 3. A CCESS TO C RIMINAL R ECORDS Education Code section 87013 provides procedures for accessing the criminal records of academic employees. The section states that for academic employees that have not previously been employed by a California school or community college district, the governing board may within 10 working days of the date of employment, require the employee to have identification cards prepared by a local law enforcement agency. The cards include fingerprints and a description of the employee. Local law enforcement then forwards the cards to the Department of Justice, which prepares a criminal history of the employee if there is one. The Department of Justice provides the report to the local law enforcement agency, which excerpts all information regarding any convictions, and forwards that information to the district governing board.

Human Resources Academy II for Community College Districts ©2019 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 12