Cite as: 520 U. S. 924 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
ernment interest, accompanied by a substantial assurance that the deprivation is not baseless or unwarranted, may in limited cases demanding prompt action justify postponing the opportunity to be heard until after the initial deprivation." Id., at 240.*
The dictum in Loudermill relied upon by the Court of Appeals is of course not inconsistent with these precedents. To say that when the government employer perceives a hazard in leaving the employee on the job it "can avoid the problem by suspending with pay" is not to say that that is the only way of avoiding the problem. Whatever implication the phrase "with pay" might have conveyed is far outweighed by the clarity of our precedents which emphasize the flexibility of due process as contrasted with the sweeping and categorical rule adopted by the Court of Appeals.
B
To determine what process is constitutionally due, we have generally balanced three distinct factors:
"First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute pro-*It is true, as respondent contends, that in Mallen we did not expressly state whether the bank president's suspension was with or without pay. But the opinion in Mallen recites no order from the FDIC, if it had authority to issue such an order, that the bank pay its president; only an order that the bank suspend its president's participation in the bank's affairs. Our opinion in Mallen certainly reflects the assumption that the suspension would be without pay. For example, in discussing the private interest at stake we considered "the severity of depriving someone of his or her livelihood." 486 U. S., at 243 (citing cases). And, Mallen argued to this Court that "denial of an income stream to underwrite these extraordinary expenses can be crucial, not only to Mallen's financial condition in general, but to his ability to pay for his criminal defense." Brief for Appellee in FDIC v. Mallen, O. T. 1987, No. 87-82, pp. 7-8.
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