Court blocks CHP from firing officer caught in LA overtime scandal

CalMatters reports on a setback for the California Highway Patrol. The agency wanted to fire officer Nathaniel Partridge after discovering he'd billed the state for overtime hours he never worked—two hundred eighty-eight dollars and ninety-eight cents in his case. Partridge was one of dozens at an East Los Angeles station fabricating overtime during highway construction details. After CHP fired him in 2020, his case moved through state appeals for six years. This week, a California appeals court ruled that a one-year suspension without pay was appropriate discipline—rejecting the Highway Patrol's demand for termination. The broader scheme involved fifty-four officers charged with collectively defrauding the public of more than two hundred thousand dollars. Fifty-two of them eventually repaid the money and accepted reduced charges.

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