What exactly is the Civil Service Commission?
Brittenum: The history, as I understand it, is that it was a safeguard for employees when there would be a change in administrations due to an election. In other words, if you got a new mayor, there wouldn’t be any wholesale termination of employees. As long as they were doing their job, they would have the opportunity to keep it. Once an employee receives disciplinary action, they have the option of telling the commission they want to appeal. The city has to go forward first and carry the burden of proof to show that the disciplinary action was reasonable. It’s sort of a system of checks and balances, so you’re not terminating employees for any arbitrary or capricious reason. do you consider just the facts of the termination or the employee’s entire record? The entire personnel record is considered before the commission, but we usually only deal with the facts submitted by the parties. The city goes first, then the employee has a chance to rebut the evidence and present their side of
