Article Title: Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees in Utah Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees in Utah
| Publication year | 2003 |
| Pages | 04-1 |
| Citation | Vol. 2003 No. 04 Pg. 04-1 |
04-1 (2003). Article Title: Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees in Utah Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees in Utah
April, 2003
Last Update: 15/11/04
Article Title: Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees
in Utah Demotion and Discharge of Municipal Employees in Utah
Author: Ellen Kitzmiller, Esq
Article Type
Articles
Article
Although employment in Utah is generally presumed to be
"at-will," many Utah municipal employees enjoy
statutory guarantees of due process with respect to
significant decisions affecting their employment status
Moreover, employees who are shielded from discharge without
"sufficient cause" have a proprietary interest in
continued employment, which interest is protected both by the
United States Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment
guarantee that "no state shall deprive any person of
property without due process of the law," and by the
Utah Constitution's analogous provision under article 1,
section 7.(fn1)
The following discussion focuses on due process rights of
Utah's municipal employees with respect to discharge from
their public employment. After identifying the statutory
sources of these rights, it reviews Utah state court opinions
describing appropriate procedural mechanisms for insuring
their protection. Importantly, the principles and legal
standards set forth in these opinions would apply as well to
disputes involving demotion or discharge of public employees
generally.
I. Statutory Sources of Due Process Rights for Utah
Municipal Employees
The Utah Municipal Code governs all municipalities within the
State of Utah, "except as otherwise specifically
excepted by the home rule provisions of Article XI, Section 5
of the Constitution of the State of Utah."(fn2) Each
municipality's executive branch is vested with
responsibility for drafting a municipal administrative code
to "prescribe rules and regulations which are not
inconsistent with the laws of this state, as it deems best
for the efficient administration, organization, operation,
conduct and business of the municipality."(fn3) While
many municipalities look to standard models for guidance
(see, e.g., the Utah League of Cites and Towns'
Municipal Document Library, accessible online at
www.ulct.org/resources/ordinance_codes/minidocs.html), each
municipality enjoys the freedom to craft its own, unique
municipal administrative code. As a result, practitioners
must be careful to identify from the outset the particular
statutes, rules and regulations that govern any particular
dispute involving a municipal employee.
A. The "Classified Civil Service"
The Utah Municipal Code identifies classified civil service
employees as follows:
The classified civil service shall consist of . . . the
police department and the fire department of each city of the
first and second class, and the health department in cities
of the first class, except the head of the departments,
deputy chiefs of the police and fire departments and
assistant chiefs of the police department in cities of the
first and second class, and the members of the board of
health of the departments.(fn4)
Further,
Any person [in the classified civil service] suspended or
discharged [by the department head] may, within five days
from issuance by the head of the department of the order
suspending or discharging him, appeal to the civil service
commission, which shall fully hear and determine the matter.
The suspended or discharged person shall be entitled to
appear in person and to have counsel and a public
hearing.(fn5)
The Civil Service Commission "has the statutory
authority to conduct appeals brought by suspended or
discharged employees, and in that regard, to make two
inquiries: (1) do the facts support the charges made by the
department head, and if so, (2) do the charges warrant the
sanction imposed?"(fn6) The second prong "breaks
down into two sub-questions: First, is the sanction
proportional; and second, is the sanction consistent with
previous sanctions imposed by the department pursuant to its
own policies."(fn7)
A department head's determination to discharge or suspend
a subordinate cannot be remanded or modified by the Civil
Service Commission. Instead, the Commission's only
options are either to uphold or to vacate that
determination.(fn8) Thereafter, "[a]ny final action or
order from the commission may be appealed...
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