Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 15, § 3392 - Employee Discipline
(a) Definitions -- The definitions in this section apply to Subchapter 5, Article 2, sections 3391 and 3392 through 3392.10.
(1) 5/8/40 Work Schedule -- A fixed work schedule consisting of five 8-hour days during a workweek.
(2) Administrative Time Off -- A form of paid leave initiated by a hiring authority when it is determined that an employee should not come to work as set forth in section 3392.9.
(3) Adverse Action -- A punitive action taken by a hiring authority to discipline an employee as set forth in section 3392.3.
(4) Appointing Power -- The Secretary of the CDCR.
(5) Bargaining Unit Agreement (also known as a Memorandum of Understanding) -- An agreement entered into between the State of California and an employee representative organization certified by the Public Employee Relations Board as the exclusive representative for an employee bargaining unit.
(6) Corrective Action -- A non-punitive action taken by a supervisor to assist an employee to improve work performance, or correct behavior or conduct as set forth in section 3392.2.
(7) Designated Case -- An employee discipline case assigned to a vertical advocate.
(8) Employee Disciplinary Matrix -- The department's Employee Disciplinary Matrix set forth in section 3392.5, utilized by all hiring authorities to identify misconduct allegations and determine the penalty to be imposed when an allegation(s) of misconduct is sustained.
(9) Employee Relations Officer -- The department employee responsible for coordinating the administrative process for designated cases, and representing the department in non-designated cases during the disciplinary process and at any administrative hearings.
(10) Hiring Authority -- The appointing power may act, or delegate the power to act, as the hiring authority. The hiring authority has the power to hire, initiate the investigation process by submitting a confidential request for internal affairs investigation or approval for direct adverse action, discipline, and dismiss staff. The power to act as a hiring authority may be delegated to the following classifications: Undersecretary; Assistant Secretary; General Counsel; Chief Deputy General Counsel; Executive Officer; Chief Information Officer; Director; Deputy Director; Associate Director; Assistant Deputy Director; Chief, Office of Correctional Safety; Chief, Office of Labor Relations; Warden; Superintendent; Health Care Chief Executive Officer; Regional Health Care Administrator; Regional Parole Administrator; Parole Administrator; Superintendent of Education; Assistant Superintendent of Education; Administrator at the Richard A. McGee Correctional Training Center for Correctional Officer Cadets; or any other person authorized by the appointing power.
(11) Job Steward -- A recognized union representative for a state bargaining unit.
(12) Letter of Intent -- Written notification to a peace officer employee that an investigation has been completed, adverse action will be taken, and the proposed penalty.
(13) Manager -- An employee in a managerial classification having significant responsibilities for formulating or administering agency or departmental policies and programs or administering an agency or department.
(14) Monitored Case -- An employee discipline case monitored by the Office of the Inspector General.
(15) Non-Designated Case -- An employee discipline case assigned to an employee relations officer.
(16) Notice of Adverse Action -- A written notice of punitive action to an employee including the penalty, effective date of the action, causes for discipline, factual allegations of misconduct, pre-deprivation (Skelly) rights, and the right to appeal the action to the State Personnel Board.
(17) Office of Internal Affairs -- The entity with authority to investigate allegations of employee misconduct.
(18) Official Personnel File -- A file for a department employee containing records maintained by the department including records relating to the employee's performance or any grievances filed by the employee.
(19) Preponderance of Evidence -- The standard of proof necessary to establish that it is more likely than not that the alleged misconduct occurred.
(20) Progressive Discipline -- Written preventative, corrective, or disciplinary action, providing an employee with notice of departmental expectations, an opportunity to learn from prior mistakes, and correct and improve future work performance.
(21) Qualifying Pay Period -- Eleven or more qualifying workdays of service in a monthly pay period.
(22) Qualifying Work Day -- An employee's regularly scheduled workday, excluding regular-days-off, sick leave, holidays, vacation, annual leave, or other periods of approved leave.
(23)
Skelly Hearing -- A hearing, normally held prior to the effective date of an adverse action, which provides the employee with an opportunity to respond to the allegations of misconduct set forth in the notice of adverse action.
(24)
Skelly Letter -- A letter notifying the employee of the hiring authority's final decision regarding the imposition of a disciplinary penalty.
(25)
Skelly Officer -- An employee, normally a manager assigned to conduct a Skelly Hearing and make a recommendation to the hiring authority as set forth in section 3392.8.
(26)
Skelly Package -- All documents and materials relied upon by the hiring authority to impose adverse action.
(27) Vertical Advocate -- An Employment Advocacy and Prosecution Team attorney who provides legal advice to the department during investigations and the employee discipline process for designated cases, and represents the department at administrative hearings and during any subsequent writ or appellate proceedings.
(28) Work Week -- Any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week beginning at any hour on any day, so long as it is fixed and regularly occurring.
Notes
Note: Authority cited: Sections 5058 and 5058.3, Penal Code. Reference: Sections 5054, 5058.4 and 6053, Penal Code; Sections 3304(d)(1), 3513, 19570 and 19574, Government Code; Section 115, Evidence Code; Skelly v. State Personnel Board (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194; Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146 (N.D. Cal. 1995); and Armstrong et al. v. Newsom et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Court Case number 94-cv-02307-CW, Madrid v. Woodford, Special Masters Final Report Re: Department Of Corrections Post Powers Investigations And Employee Discipline; Case No. C90-3094-T.E.H. and Madrid v. Woodford, Order; and Case No. C90-3094-T.E.H. Class Action.
Note: Authority cited: Sections 5058 and 5058.3, Penal Code. Reference: Sections 5054, 5058.4 and 6053, Penal Code; Sections 3304(d)(1), 3513, 19570 and 19574, Government Code; Section 115, Evidence Code; Skelly v. State Personnel Board (1975) 15 Cal.3d 194; Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146 (N.D. Cal. 1995); and Armstrong et al. v. Newsom et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Court Case number 94-cv-02307-CW, Madrid v. Woodford, Special Masters Final Report Re: Department Of Corrections Post Powers Investigations And Employee Discipline; Case No. C90-3094-T.E.H. and Madrid v. Woodford, Order; Case No. C90-3094-T.E.H. Class Action.
2. Amendment of section heading, repealer and new section and amendment of Note refiled 6-13-2022 as an emergency; operative
3. Certificate of Compliance as to 6-13-2022 order, including amendment of section and NOTE, transmitted to OAL 9-12-2022 and filed 9-29-2022; amendments effective 9-29-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 39).
4. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (a)(4) and (a)(7) filed 7-1-2024 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2024, No. 27).
5. Repealer of subsections (a)(4), (a)(7) and (a)(16) and subsection renumbering filed 12-26-2024 as an emergency; operative
6. Repealer of subsections (a)(4), (a)(7) and (a)(16) and subsection renumbering refiled 6-10-2025 as an emergency; operative
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
(a) Definitions -- The definitions in this section apply to Subchapter 5, Article 2, sections 3391 and 3392 through 3392.10.
(1) 5/8/40 Work Schedule -- A fixed work schedule consisting of five 8-hour days during a workweek.
(2) Administrative Time Off -- A form of paid leave initiated by a hiring authority when it is determined that an employee should not come to work as set forth in section 3392.9.
(3) Adverse Action -- A punitive action taken by a hiring authority to discipline an employee as set forth in section 3392.3.
(4) Appointing Power -- The Secretary of the CDCR.
(5) Bargaining Unit Agreement (also known as a Memorandum of Understanding) -- An agreement entered into between the State of California and an employee representative organization certified by the Public Employee Relations Board as the exclusive representative for an employee bargaining unit.
(6) Corrective Action -- A non-punitive action taken by a supervisor to assist an employee to improve work performance, or correct behavior or conduct as set forth in section 3392.2.
(7) Designated Case -- An employee discipline case assigned to a vertical advocate.
(8) Employee Disciplinary Matrix -- The department 's Employee Disciplinary Matrix set forth in section 3392.5, utilized by all hiring authorities to identify misconduct allegations and determine the penalty to be imposed when an allegation(s) of misconduct is sustained.
(9) Employee Relations Officer -- The department employee responsible for coordinating the administrative process for designated cases, and representing the department in non-designated cases during the disciplinary process and at any administrative hearings.
(10) Hiring Authority -- The appointing power may act, or delegate the power to act, as the hiring authority. The hiring authority has the power to hire, initiate the investigation process by submitting a confidential request for internal affairs investigation or approval for direct adverse action, discipline, and dismiss staff. The power to act as a hiring authority may be delegated to the following classifications: Undersecretary; Assistant Secretary ; General Counsel; Chief Deputy General Counsel; Executive Officer; Chief Information Officer; Director; Deputy Director; Associate Director; Assistant Deputy Director; Chief, Office of Correctional Safety; Chief, Office of Labor Relations; Warden; Superintendent; Health Care Chief Executive Officer; Regional Health Care Administrator; Regional Parole Administrator ; Parole Administrator ; Superintendent of Education; Assistant Superintendent of Education; Administrator at the Richard A. McGee Correctional Training Center for Correctional Officer Cadets; or any other person authorized by the appointing power.
(11) Job Steward -- A recognized union representative for a state bargaining unit.
(12) Letter of Intent -- Written notification to a peace officer employee that an investigation has been completed, adverse action will be taken, and the proposed penalty.
(13) Manager -- An employee in a managerial classification having significant responsibilities for formulating or administering agency or departmental policies and programs or administering an agency or department .
(14) Monitored Case -- An employee discipline case monitored by the Office of the Inspector General.
(15) Non-Designated Case -- An employee discipline case assigned to an employee relations officer.
(16) Notice of Adverse Action -- A written notice of punitive action to an employee including the penalty, effective date of the action, causes for discipline, factual allegations of misconduct, pre-deprivation (Skelly) rights, and the right to appeal the action to the State Personnel Board .
(17) Office of Internal Affairs -- The entity with authority to investigate allegations of employee misconduct.
(18) Official Personnel File -- A file for a department employee containing records maintained by the department including records relating to the employee's performance or any grievances filed by the employee.
(19) Preponderance of Evidence -- The standard of proof necessary to establish that it is more likely than not that the alleged misconduct occurred.
(20) Progressive Discipline -- Written preventative, corrective, or disciplinary action, providing an employee with notice of departmental expectations, an opportunity to learn from prior mistakes, and correct and improve future work performance.
(21) Qualifying Pay Period -- Eleven or more qualifying workdays of service in a monthly pay period.
(22) Qualifying Work Day -- An employee's regularly scheduled workday, excluding regular-days-off, sick leave, holidays, vacation, annual leave, or other periods of approved leave.
(23) Skelly Hearing -- A hearing , normally held prior to the effective date of an adverse action, which provides the employee with an opportunity to respond to the allegations of misconduct set forth in the notice of adverse action.
(24) Skelly Letter -- A letter notifying the employee of the hiring authority's final decision regarding the imposition of a disciplinary penalty.
(25) Skelly Officer -- An employee, normally a manager assigned to conduct a Skelly Hearing and make a recommendation to the hiring authority as set forth in section 3392.8.
(26) Skelly Package -- All documents and materials relied upon by the hiring authority to impose adverse action.
(27) Vertical Advocate -- An Employment Advocacy and Prosecution Team attorney who provides legal advice to the department during investigations and the employee discipline process for designated cases, and represents the department at administrative hearings and during any subsequent writ or appellate proceedings.
(28) Work Week -- Any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week beginning at any hour on any day , so long as it is fixed and regularly occurring.
Notes
Note: Authority cited: Sections 5058 and 5058.3, Penal Code. Reference: Sections 5054, 5058.4 and 6053, Penal Code; Sections 3304(d)(1), 3513, 19570 and 19574, Government Code; Section 115, Evidence Code; Skelly v. State Personnel
Note: Authority cited: Sections 5058 and 5058.3, Penal Code. Reference: Sections 5054, 5058.4 and 6053, Penal Code; Sections 3304(d)(1), 3513, 19570 and 19574, Government Code; Section 115, Evidence Code; Skelly v. State Personnel
2. Amendment of section heading, repealer and new section and amendment of Note refiled 6-13-2022 as an emergency; operative
3. Certificate of Compliance as to 6-13-2022 order, including amendment of section and NOTE, transmitted to OAL 9-12-2022 and filed 9-29-2022; amendments effective 9-29-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 39).
4. Change without regulatory effect amending subsections (a)(4) and (a)(7) filed 7-1-2024 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2024, No. 27).
5. Repealer of subsections (a)(4), (a)(7) and (a)(16) and subsection renumbering filed 12-26-2024 as an emergency; operative