Carefully Evaluating Evidence is Key to Skelly Success

Correctional Officer with San Joaquin County was recently given notice of a 3 day suspension without pay for allegations of sustained misconduct involving failure to appear for a subpoena. However, after the details were carefully examined by Goyette attorney Dan Thompson, he argued at the Skelly hearing that there was more to the story. Internal failure to properly serve the subpoena along with a deputy DA with a bad attitude severely complicated the situation. After a detailed review of the mitigating factors, the discipline was reduced to a 12 hour suspension and most importantly, the charge of intentional failure to follow the orders of a supervisor was removed from the final Notice. Carefully evaluating the evidence provided by the employer in these cases is the key to success on appeal.