Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

I have a question regarding what happens after the review panel has seen an appeal and denies it. Let me give some insight as how I got to this point. I have been going through the hiring process with LA City since Dec 09, experiencing various delays along the way but I remained dedicated to the process. I have been successful throughout the entire process up until my psych interview when it was determined that I neglected to mention a previous work injury (approx 10 years ago) during my medical evaluation. My medical appointment was before I even had a sit down meeting with my BI, so from a medical standpoint I don't even think of this injury simply because it has been non issue for almost 9 years. When I met with my BI I did disclose the work injury to account for time out of work and workers comp payments received. The Background department checked into the injury and my claim against my previous employer and deemed it to be legitimet and cleared me from the background process. My medical exam went flawlessly, they would have never known I had the injury if I didn't mention it; I passed all aspects of their testing components. As a result, I appealed this decision to remove me from the process; they based their initial decision on a concern of my integrity. With my appeal I submitted approx 13 letters of recommendation / referrence from friends in various occupations ranging from police officers to doctors and city attorneys - there was even one from the Govenor's office. My oversight of mentioning this work injury during my medical process was not an intention to decieve in any way, it just is something that is far from my mind - medically speaking. Perhaps if I had the interview with my BI first it would have been more in the front of my mind since I disclosed it to them. Ok, here's my question - if the appeal was denied how do you keep fighting? I'm a firm believer that if something is worth having it is absolutely worth fighting for. I'm fighting for my career and a better life for my family so I have every incentive to push as much as I can. The interesting part about this is the background department is on my side, they believe this to be a technicality that medical services decided to blow up unnecessarily. I'm willing to do whatever, write to whoever, I just need some advise and direction. Any help anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and help.

I don't know if you can appeal a denied appeal.

No matter how " right " you think you are , someone or someones disagree. Have you considered applying elsewhere ?

I'm surprised they even have an appeal process. They can hire or not hire anyone they want as long as they don't discriminate on race, religion, etc. etc. If my department rejects you, that's it.

Like mcsap said, I'd apply somewhere else.

I understand your pain. Stuff gets unfair, and even though I'm sure you're a very great candidate, small factors play in to prevent you from doing what you want to do. Don't be down though! You will get where you want to be! Hold your head up, and keep trying. Some department, somewhere, will see your dedication, and that you don't quit, and they will want you! Never. Stop. Trying.

DQs from California civil service agencies are appealable and your next step is to hire legal counsel and take the matter to Superior Court.

I have never worked for LAPD but I did backgrounds with a large California agency for several years and later supervised backgrounds for several years. From that perspective, here is what you are up against.

The medical staff can only DQ you for a medical condition that would preclude you from satisfactorily performing the duties of the position. However, they apparently noted in their report that you admitted "forgetting" to list what they considered a significant injury. Based on that, it looks like someone in HR viewed your omission as an integrity issue and DQed you.

Were it my agency and someone decided they didn't want you, you would have been DQed as well. The fact that you admitted "forgetting" to list the injury indicates you are lacking in the trait of thoroughness. Thoroughness is one of the minimum requirements an applicant must possess in order to be employed as a police officer with my department. It doesn't matter whether this information was omitted intentionally or accidentally, in my department's eyes you are either lacking in integrity of thoroughness. Either one is a DQ factor.

In short, your defense against the integrity charge (a lack of thoroughness on your part) is an admission that you lack another minimum qualification for the job, which in itself can be grounds for DQ. Either way, you're DQed.

I am going to suggest you pack your bags and bring your qualifications to another department with huge lessons learned.

As L-1 stated, a civil suit in court is your next step.

Do you want to be "that guy" who sued to get his job? I've worked with "those guys". Their careers will never go beyond base patrolman, they're not given any consideration for any special assignments or projects, and they're not trusted the moment they're out of a supervisor's sight.

Here's another wonderful thing to consider: When you bring the suit to court, you create a permanent, public record accessible to anyone under public information laws in which you admit you "forget" to include facts in reports related to your job. You very easily could end up having a copy of that docket show up at every trial you testify at.

Do you want to be "that guy" who sued to get his job? I've worked with "those guys". Their careers will never go beyond base patrolman, they're not given any consideration for any special assignments or projects, and they're not trusted the moment they're out of a supervisor's sight.

Exactly what I was thinking! No point in spending time/money on something that is bound to be a dead end.

We've fired people for not disclosing medical information during the exam. Usually they pass the exam and we don't find out until all the records come back, which could take months. By that time they've already been hired. Since it's stressed so much (and I'm sure it's the same with LAPD) to remember to put EVERYTHING on the history form, omitting something from the form is untruthfulness. Of course everyone is going to claim that it was just an "oversight," or "technicality," however the fact of the matter is that the form asked for all your injuries and you didn't put it down. You probably would have more of a claim if they disqualified you for the injury itself than for not disclosing the injury. It's the same as not disclosing something during a background investigation that is later discovered. You can say that it was a mistake, but the department probably isn't going to buy that (nor should they). In your case, if they set a precedent by letting you go forward in the process then they're going to have to let everyone else who doesn't disclose injuries in the medical exam do the same thing. In my opinion they made the right decision.

As others have said, you can always get a lawyer. I'm sure you could find one who would be happy to take thousands of dollars from you to take your case to court. Since you don't have a right to the job and admittedly didn't disclose something, I seriously doubt you have much of a chance of success.

Thank you for the comments.