Hansen v. State Personnel Board of Review

364 N.E.2d 1386, 51 Ohio App. 2d 7, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 118, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6914
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 10, 1977
Docket35529
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 364 N.E.2d 1386 (Hansen v. State Personnel Board of Review) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hansen v. State Personnel Board of Review, 364 N.E.2d 1386, 51 Ohio App. 2d 7, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 118, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6914 (Ohio Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Jackson, J.

On December 13, 1974, defendant-appellant Craig Stevens (hereafter Stevens) was removed from his position of Housekeeper n at Cleveland State University. Stevens was removed for “repeated neglect of duty” by plaintiff-appellee Gordon L. Hansen, Appointing Officer, Cleveland State University (hereafter the Appointing Authority). Stevens had been found asleep three times during his assigned shift on the night of July 11, 1974, and the early morning of July 12, 1974. Stevens had received prior suspensions for misconduct in January, March, April, May, June and July, 1974.

Stevens appealed this removal order to the State Personnel Board of Review, a defendant-appellant herein (hereafter the State Personnel Board). * On February 3, 1975, the State Personnel Board dismissed the removal order “for the reason that too long a time elapsed between the date of the offenses and the date of the removal order.”

The Appointing Authority appealed the dismissal of the removal order by the State Personnel Board to the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County. The Court of *9 Common Pleas reversed the decision of the State Personnel Board and remanded it for a hearing under R. C. 119.12.

On June 27,1975, the State Personnel Board again dismissed the removal order. The State Personnel Board’s order contains the following:

“This record clearly indicates that Mr. Stevens had been given a 30 day suspension on July 22, 1974, which is after the July 12 incident charged in the removal order. This Board has consistently held that a suspension of an employee includes all breaches of duty up to and including the date of the last suspension, and that an appointing authority cannot go back and use an incident which preceded the suspension as a ground for removal.”
“The previous suspensions of the appellant in-indicates [sic] that Mr. Stevens is not a satisfactory employee. However, the procedure followed in this case by the appointing authority leaves us no alternative but to disaffirm the order of removal.”

The Appointing Authority appealed the June 27, .1975, dismissal of the removal order by the State Personnel Board to the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County. The Court of Common Pleas reversed the order of the State Personnel Board.

Appellant Stevens has filed a timely notice of appeal from the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas. A single error is assigned:

“The State Personnel Board of Review has the authority pursuant to R. C. 124.03 and R. C. 124.34 to hold that a suspension of an employee by an appointing authority includes all breaches of duty up to and including the date of said suspension, and that an appointing authority cannot go back and use an incident which preceded said suspension as grounds for a subsequent removal order against the employee.”

R. C. 124.34 provides in part that:

“In cases of removal or reduction in pay for disciplinary reasons, either the appointing authority or the officer or employee may appeal from the decision of the state personnel board of review or the commission to the court of *10 common pleas of the county in which the employee resides in accordance with the procedure provided by section 119.12: of the Revised Code.”

R.- C. 119.12 refers in part to appeals from the Court of Common Pleas to the Court of Appeals.

“* * # Such appeal by the agency shall be taken on questions of law relating to the constitutionality, construction, or interpretation of statutes and rules and regulations of the agency and in such appeal the court may also review and determine the correctness of the judgment of the court of common pleas that the order of the agency is not supported by any reliable, probative, and substantial evidence in the entire record.”

Appellant Stevens on this appeal and the State Personnel Board, in its disaffirmance of the removal order, do not contend that a substantive basis does not exist for the removal order. In its order disaffirming the removal order of the appointing authority, the State Personnel Board, as heretofore indicated, held that: “the procedure followed in this case by the appointing authority leaves us no alternative but to disaffirm the order of removal.” Consequently, the sole question confronting this court is the validity of the procedural rule upon which the disaffirmance order of the State Personnel Board is based. To determine the validity of the rule, this court must construe R. C. 124.03, the pertinent parts of which provide:

“Powers and duties of state personnel board of review.
“The state personnel board of review shall exercise the following powers and perform the following duties of the department of administrative services:
“(A) Hear appeals, as provided by law, of employees in the classified state service from final decisions of appointing authorities or the director of administrative services relative to reduction in pay or position, job abolishments, layoff, suspension, discharge, assignment or reassignment to a new or different position classication; the board may affirm, disaffirm, or' modify the decisions of the appointing authorities, or the director of *11 administrative services, as the case may be, and its decision is final.” (Emphasis added.) * * *'
“(F) To adopt and promulgate rules in accordance with Chapter 119, of the Revised Code, relating to the procedure of the board in administering the laws which it has authority or duty to administer and for the purpose of invoicing the jurisdiction of the board in hearing appeals of appointing authorities and employees in matters set forth in division (A) and (B) of this section * * (Emphasis added.)

The procedure for adoption of an agency rule is set forth in R. 0.119.03. Included in the required procedure are reasonable public notice containing a synopsis of the proposed rule and the opportunity to be heard at a public hearing. Also, pursuant to R. C. 119.03(E), “Prior to the effective date * * * the agency shall make reasonable effort to inform those affected” by the rule and “to have available for distribution to those requesting it the full text of the rule***.”

Appellant Stevens conceded in his brief and on oral argument that the State Personnel Board did not comply with R. C. 119.03. R. C. 119.02, relating to compliance and validity of rules, provides that:

“Unless otherwise specifically provided by law, the failure of any agency to comply with such procedure shall invalidate any rule * * * adopted * * *.” (Emphasis added.) In re Appeal from Rules (1963), 118 Ohio App. 407.

R. C. 124.03(A) grants adjudicatory power to the State Personnel Board. The essence of the argument advanced by appellant Stevens is that the State Personnel Board has implied power under R. C. 124.03(A) to make procedural rules, and that such rules need not comply with R. C. Chapter 119. We disagree. In R.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 N.E.2d 1386, 51 Ohio App. 2d 7, 5 Ohio Op. 3d 118, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 6914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hansen-v-state-personnel-board-of-review-ohioctapp-1977.