Worrall v. Ogden City Fire Department

616 P.2d 598, 1980 Utah LEXIS 994

• Court: Utah Supreme Court
• Decided: August 11, 1980
• Docket: 16375
• Status: Published

Opinions

MAUGHAN, Justice:

Plaintiff appeals from an adverse ruling of the trial court. He was denied relief, on procedural grounds, for his discharge as a fireman with Ogden City. This matter is reversed and remanded with an order to refer plaintiff’s claims to the Ogden City Civil Service Commission, that he might have an opportunity for a post-termination hearing.

Plaintiff commenced his employment as a fireman with defendant in June 1968; he has worn a handlebar mustache since 1970. In September, 1976, Fire-Chief Hansen promulgated General Order No. 160, which established certain grooming standards for firemen. This order recited that its purposes were:

“To provide the best possible safety conditions both from flash fire and respiratory aspects and to project the best possible public image of this uniformed Fire Department.”

The rule governing mustaches provided that they would not extend beyond the lower part of the upper lip nor would any of the mustaches be more than one-half inch in length.

Plaintiff was given an opportunity to conform with the requirements. Plaintiff testified he did cut approximately one-half the length of the handlebars on his mustache. However, the mustache was yet not in compliance with the order.¹ When plaintiff persisted in his adamant refusal to conform, Chief Hansen deemed such action insubordination and sent him a letter dated November 29, 1976, which stated.

“This is to officially notify you that your employment with the Ogden City Fire Department is officially terminated as of November 28, 1976 due to your refusal to comply with General Order No. 160.”

This letter did not notify plaintiff he had but five days to appeal his termination to the Ogden City Civil Service Commission, and plaintiff denied any knowledge of this limitation, as set forth in the Civil Service Rules an Regulations Manual'. Plaintiff contacted the American Civil Liberties Union and sought their assistance. Eventually the A.C.L.U. notified him it would not assist him. Plaintiff then employed private counsel, who filed an appeal of the termination on December 29, 1976. The Civil Service Commission refused review of plaintiff’s discharge on the ground his appeal was not filed timely (within five days after discharge).

The trial court ruled, both the state statute, Section 10-1(|,-21 (currently Section 10-3-1012) and the Civil Service Rules required an appeal within five days, and both the statute and the rules constituted notice to the plaintiff of the five-day limitation. It further ruled the five-day period had a valid purpose, viz., a departmental matter should' be settled quickly so a decision can be made as to whether a replacement should be hired. The court also ruled the action of the City Civil Service Commission was reasonable under the circumstances, and was therefore final. The court concluded the appeal was not filed within a reasonable period of time and the administrative remedies were never properly exhausted; and, therefore, plaintiff was not entitled as a matter of right to the trial which had been accorded him.

On appeal, plaintiff contends the trial court erred in its ruling, and the case should have been referred to the City Civil Service Commission for a hearing. Specifically, plaintiff urges the procedures employed violated fundamental fairness in that the letter of discharge did not give him notice of the five day limitation in which to seek review of his termination. Also, procedural due process requires plaintiff be so advised. We agree.

Section 10-10-21, Utah Code Annotated, 1953,² provides:

“All persons in the classified civil service may be removed from office or employment by the head of the department for misconduct, incompetency or failure to perform his duties or failure to observe properly the rules of the department, but subject to appeal by the aggrieved party to the civil service commission. Any person discharged may within five days from the issuing by the head of the department of the order discharging him appeal therefrom to the civil service commission, which shall fully hear and determine the matter. The discharged person shall be entitled to appear in person and to have counsel and a public hearing. The finding and decision of the civil service commission upon such hearing shall be certified to the head of the department from whose order the appeal is taken, and shall be final, and shall forthwith be enforced and followed by him.”

The genesis of this statute was an enactment in 1921, Chapter 13, Section 666X12, the language therein has not undergone any material alteration to its present form in Section 10-10-21, U.C.A., 1953. On the other hand there has been a major evolution in the minimal procedural requirements under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. First, where state law confers on a person a claim of entitlement to continued employment absent sufficient cause for discharge, such entitlement constitutes a property interest, which is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.³ Second, every significant deprivation, whether permanent or temporary, of an interest, which is qualified as “property” under the due process clause must be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of case, absent extraordinary or unusual circumstances.⁴

Plaintiff does not claim and, therefore, we do not discuss his right to be accorded under the due process clause a pre-termination hearing.⁵ However, plaintiff vigorously asserts his right to be given notice and an opportunity for a post-termination hearing under the due process clause. Plaintiff contends he was effectively denied his right, when the letter discharging him gave him no notice of the right to a hearing, or of the five-day limitation.

In Goss v. Lopez⁶ the Court observed the fundamental requisite of due process of law is the opportunity to be heard, a right which has little reality or worth unless one is informed that the matter is pending and one can choose for himself whether to contest. The notice must be of such a nature as reasonably to convey the required information.⁷ In assessing the adequacy of a notice the central issue is whether the communication contains the type of information which is reasonably calculated to afford the informant an opportunity to be heard at a proper time and in a proper manner.⁸

The trial court erred in its ruling that the statute, Section 10-10-21, and Civil Service Rules put plaintiff on notice of the five-day limitation. Under the due process clause, plaintiff was entitled to have this essential information' imparted to him; that he might make an intelligent and informed decision as to whether to waive his constitutional right to a post-termination hearing. The letter discharging plaintiff should have contained a notice of his right to a hearing and the time limitation on this right.

Due process is not a technical conception with a fixed content unrelated to time, place, and circumstances; it is flexible and requires such procedural protections as the particular situation demands. In an analysis of a procedure an important factor is the risk of an erroneous deprivation of a private interest through the procedures, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards.⁹

The review by the courts of a decision of a city civil service commission is generally confined to a determination of whether that body has exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion.¹⁰ The trial court was correct that plaintiff should exhaust his administrative remedies, for under Section 10-10-21, the civil service commission is made the ultimate authority to determine whether a discharge should or should not stand. Under this statute the commission is not compelled to sustain the department head in every case where it finds the charge substantiated. The commission has the power to determine the sufficiency of the cause of removal and not merely adjudge whether the cause alleged by the department head was true.¹¹

WILKINS, J., concurs. STEWART, J., concurs in the result.

1 . The trial court found the mustache, as estimated by the court from observation, to be V2 to ³/⅛ of an inch in length, except for the corners, which appeared to be waxed and curled and perhaps 1V3 inches in length.

2 . Reenacted by L.1977, Ch. 48, Sec. 3 designated as Sec. 10-3-1012.

3 . Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565, 573, 95 S.Ct. 729, 735, 42 L.Ed.2d 725 (1975); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 601, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2699, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972); Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 345, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 2077, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976).

4 . Goss v. Lopez, note 3, supra, at 419 U.S. 578-579, 95 S.Ct. 738, Skelly v. State Personnel Board, 15 Cal.3d 194, 124 Cal.Rptr. 14, 539 P.2d 774, 784 (1975).

5 . See Muscare v. Quinn, (C.A. 7th 1975) 520 F.2d 1212, 1215-1216, wherein it was held due process requires at a minimum that a fireman charged with violation of the fire department’s grooming standards, be granted a hearing prior to suspension, where he may be fully informed of the reasons for the proposed suspension and where he may challenge its sufficiency. In Quinn v. Muscare, 425 U.S. 560, 563, 96 S.Ct. 1752, 1753, 48 L.Ed.2d 165 (1976), the Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted, citing as one of the reasons the Civil Service Commission of Chicago had revised its rules to provide for pre-suspension hearings in all nonemergency cases.

6 . 419 U.S. 565, 579, 95 S.Ct. 729, 738, 42 L.Ed.2d 725 (1975).

7 . Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314-315, 70 S.Ct. 652, 657, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950).

8 . Aguchak v. Montgomery Ward Co., Inc., Alaska, 520 P.2d 1352, 1356-1357 (1974).

9 . Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 334-335, 96 S.Ct. 893, 902-903, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1970).

10 . Lee v. Provo City Civil Service Commission, Utah, 582 P.2d 485 (1978); Child v. Salt Lake City Civil Service Commission, Utah, 575 P.2d 195 (1978).

11 . Vetterli v. Civil Service Commission of Salt Lake City, 106 Utah 83, 90, 92-93, 145 P.2d 792 (1944).