Does your organization's internal disciplinary procedures provide the right to cross-examine witnesses?

A California appellate court ruled in the plaintiff’s favor in a recent disciplinary matter where a hearing panel recommended expulsion. While the case pertained to a school, HR professionals should note the importance of respecting the right of cross-examination of witnesses if the organization’s internal disciplinary procedures provide this right.

In Teacher v. California Western School of Law, a law school’s vice dean of academic affairs sent the plaintiff student a letter on Feb. 7, 2018, accusing him of doing the following, which amounted to breaches of the Code of Student Professional Conduct (CSPC):

• getting unauthorized access of two other students’ accounts;
• using those accounts to send inappropriate, offensive, or abusive emails to an alumnus and a number of faculty members and students;
• using the accounts to print documents charged to the other students, which constituted thefts from those students.

The letter told the plaintiff that the Professional Responsibility Committee would hold a formal disciplinary hearing to consider the allegations. The committee’s hearing panel, made up of four professors at the law school, relied on various witness statements to decide whether the plaintiff was responsible for the alleged misconduct.

In late February 2018, the panel issued a report recommending expulsion, considering the serious nature of the violations. Using...

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