Principles for Public Safety Employment

written notice describing the disciplinary action that will be imposed. This notice is commonly referred to as the “Final Notice of Discipline.” LCW Practice Advisor

Generally, additional charges should not be added after the Skelly meeting/conference; otherwise a new Skelly meeting/conference will be required. If newly discovered evidence is gathered supporting new charges, then a new Notice of Intent must be issued providing the employee with the right to another Skelly meeting/conference. However, in Thornbrough v. Western Place School Dist. 244 , in a non-public safety context, the California Court of Appeal held that it did not violate an employee’s due process rights to amend the charges in a final notice during the employee’s appeal hearing where the employee was granted continuances to prepare to respond to the amended charges. If circumstances dictate a belated amendment to the charges, the employer should give the employee adequate time to organize a response to the amended charges.

4. I F THE S KELLY O FFICER D ECIDES TO S USTAIN THE P ROPOSED D ISCIPLINE If the Skelly officer decides that the discipline proposed should go forward, the Final Notice of Discipline will mirror, in most respects, the Notice of Intent. The only major difference should be that the Final Notice of Discipline will have a detailed description of what occurred at the Skelly meeting/conference with an explanation as to why the employee’s viewpoints were not persuasive. 5. I F THE S KELLY O FFICER D ECIDES TO M ODIFY THE P ROPOSED D ISCIPLINE a. Reduction of Discipline and “Last Chance” Settlement Agreements The individual who conducts the “ Skelly ” pre-disciplinary meeting/conference may decide, based upon the facts presented or review of other disciplinary matters, that the discipline initially proposed is too severe. If that is the case, the Skelly officer must issue a notice of final discipline identifying the new disciplinary penalty. However, it is important to remember that, unless a peace officer expressly agrees to waive his/her right to a post-discipline appeal, he/she will still have the right to challenge reduced discipline through the appeal process. Thus, consider whether a settlement agreement can be negotiated with the employee before voluntarily agreeing to reduce the discipline. These settlement agreements, which are sometimes referred to as “last chance agreements” where termination has been proposed, are enforceable provided they are drafted in a clear and unambiguous manner. 245 For example, a last chance agreement was upheld in Alhambra Police

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