State ex rel. Nelson v. Board of Public Welfare

183 N.W. 521, 149 Minn. 322, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 660
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 24, 1921
DocketNo. 22,295
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 183 N.W. 521 (State ex rel. Nelson v. Board of Public Welfare) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Nelson v. Board of Public Welfare, 183 N.W. 521, 149 Minn. 322, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 660 (Mich. 1921).

Opinion

Tatlok, C.

Alleging that he had been wrongfully discharged, on August 10, 1920, by the Board of Public Welfare of the city of Minneapolis from the position of inspector of foods in the division of public health, the relator sued out a writ of certiorari from the district court to review the action of the board. On the return made to the court in obedience to the writ, the court rendered judgment affirming the action of the hoard as lawful and valid and discharging the writ. The relator appealed from this judgment.

The Board of Public Welfare of the city of Minneapolis was created by chapter 327> p. 342, of the Laws of 1919, and on July 1, 1919, the powers and-duties theretofore exercised and performed by the department of health and by several other departments and hoards of the city were transferred to, vested in, and imposed upon, this board. Among other things the act provided that: “All officers and employes of the department of health * * * shall be eligible to similar offices and positions under the board of public welfare hereby created without being required to take civil service examinations as to their qualifications therefor, and they shall continue in -their respective offices or positions from the time this act goes into effect, until further action of the hoard.” Section 6.

[324]*324From the return it appears that on June 8, 1920, the committee on public health of the board of public welfare reported to the board three lists of employes in the division of public health, and as to one of these lists recommended: “That this personnel of employes carried over as employes prior to July 1st, 1919, be not certified and that the positions now occupied by them be declared vacant June 15th, 1920, and that the commissioner of health be authorized to request the civil service commission to replace them.”

This list included the relator, who was named therein as inspector of milk. The recommendation of the committee was adopted by the board. The committee also recommended that the employes in this list be given a leave of absence .with pay for one week from June 15, 1920, and this recommendation was also adopted by the board. About this time, the date is not given, the board requested the civil service commission to certify 'an eligible person for appointment as inspector of foods in the division of public health, and on June 18, 1920, the commission certified to the board the name of the relator, and he was appointed to that position on June 23, 1920. On July 27, 1920, the commissioner of public health gave him a written notice that, pending the action of the board of public welfare, he was suspended without pay for absence from duty without authority and for falsification of reports, and, pursuant to the rules of the board, reported this action to the committee on public health. This committee reported to the board at its meeting of August 3, 1920, recommending that the relator be discharged. He appeared at this meeting and was informed by the chairman that the committee, after investigation, had recommended that he be permanently discharged, and was further informed that it had been made to appear that the statement in his written report of July 26, that he had been engaged during all the working hours of that day in performing the duties assigned to him, was false in that during those hours he had attended a hearing held by a committee of the city council which his duties did not require him to attend, and was further informed that the board desired to hear him in his own behalf and to give him such opportunity as he wished to present such facts and evidence as he desired before the board took action on the recommendation [325]*325for his discharge. Thereupon the relator stated- to the board that he had been absent from duty without leave as stated by the chairman, and that: “Said written inspection report made by him was false in that he was not wholly employed * * * on the said July 26, 1920, in and about his regular duties.” He further stated that he “did not think or realize that he had been guilty of any act in grave violation of his duties and that he had nothing-further to say and present to the board at said hearing.”

No action was taken by the board at this meeting. At the next meeting, held August 10, 1920, a motion to refer the matter to the civil service commission was defeated, and the board then, by formal vote, adopted the recommendation of the committee to discharge the relato-r. At the meeting of the board, held August 24, 1920, the relator made a written demand to be reinstated, on the ground that the action of the board was in violation -of the civil service laws and of the law giving preference rights to honorably discharged soldiers, -and on the further, ground that he had. been given no notice of the charges and no opportunity to meet them. In this demand he stated that he was an honorably discharged soldier from the army of the United States in the world war. So far as the return discloses, no action was taken by the board on this demand.

The relator rests his appeal on the proposition that the board of public welfare lacked power to discharge him and that he could be discharged only by the civil service commission.

Chapter 63, p. 70, of the Laws of 1917, established a civil service commission íot the city of Minneapolis and divided the officers and employes of the city into two divisions, designated as the “Classified Service” and the “Unclassified Service.” The commission was required to prepare and keep a register of all employes of the city in the classified service; to classify and grade the different offices and positions according to the duties to be performed; to hold public competitive examinations to test the relative fitness of applicants, and to keep a register of those found eligible to appointment to positions in the various grades. The act provides that when a vacancy is to be filled the appointing officer shall notify the commission, and the commission shall certify the highest name from the appropriate list of the eligible regi-s[326]*326ter, and that all vacancies shall be filled from the names so certified. There are several exceptions not necessary to mention here. The act provides in section 11 that: “No officer or employe after six months continuous employment shall be removed or discharged except for cause, upon written charges, and after an opportunity to be heard in his own defense. Such charges shall be investigated by or before said civil service commission or by or before some officer or board appointed by said commission to conduct such investigation.”

The relator contends that he is within the protection of this statute. He concedes that under this act the employing officer oc board may dismiss an employe without the hearing above provided for, unless the employe has been in continuous service for more than six months, but insists that he had been in continuous service for more than that period.

The act creating the board of public welfare provided for reorganizing and consolidating several departments and boards of the city under this board, and abolished such former departments and boards. It provided that “the terms of office and employment of all officers and' employes of said' departments and boards herein abolished shall terminate and no longer continue except as herein otherwise expressly provided.” Section 9.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 N.W. 521, 149 Minn. 322, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 660, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-nelson-v-board-of-public-welfare-minn-1921.