Cibas v. New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Dept.
| Decision Date | 19 April 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 15673,15673 |
| Citation | 898 P.2d 1265,120 N.M. 127,1995 NMCA 46 |
| Parties | Dr. Gediminas CIBAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW MEXICO ENERGY, MINERALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
Appellant appeals from an order of the district court reversing the decision of the State Personnel Board (the Board) which directed that Appellant be reinstated to his former position or a position of similar status, together with back pay and benefits. The central issue on appeal is whether the Board had jurisdiction to adjudicate Appellant's claim that he was improperly terminated from employment. For the reasons discussed herein, we affirm.
Appellant was employed as an Energy Consultant by the New Mexico Energy and Minerals Department (EMD). On June 10, 1987, Anita Lockwood, Acting Secretary of the EMD, notified Appellant that an administrative decision had been made to abolish his position, effective June 26, 1987, because the EMD's budget for the seventy-sixth fiscal year (July 1, 1987, through June 30, 1988) mandated a reduction in force.
Appellant simultaneously filed an appeal to the Board and a grievance with the EMD under the EMD grievance procedures, alleging, among other things, that (1) his layoff failed to comply with applicable rules and regulations of the Board; (2) the EMD failed to accord him displacement and re-employment rights; (3) his layoff violated the provisions of New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234; and (4) his layoff was a ruse and a device to avoid according him his rights under the State Personnel Act. A hearing officer was appointed to hear the appeal. On June 18, 1987, the hearing officer notified Appellant that his appeal to the Board was premature because his layoff was not effective until June 26, 1987. On June 22, 1987, the EMD notified Appellant that under EMD rules a grievance could not be brought against Acting Secretary Lockwood. Thereafter, on July 10, 1987, Appellant filed what appears to be a combined second appeal to the Board and an appeal to the State Personnel Director (the Director) from the EMD's denial of a grievance. After the filing of these administrative appeals, the first hearing officer resigned and a second hearing officer was appointed by the Board to hear Appellant's appeals.
Following the completion of the hearing conducted by the new hearing officer, she adopted findings of fact and conclusions of law, recommending: (1) upholding EMD's denial of Appellant's grievance; (2) reinstatement of Appellant with back pay and benefits because Appellant's layoff constituted a constructive discharge that improperly circumvented legislative restrictions limiting the EMD's power to dismiss employees; and (3) that Appellant's displacement or "bumping" rights under State Personnel Board Rule 14.5 (April 5, 1986) had been violated. On June 7, 1989, the Director issued a decision adopting the hearing officer's initial findings and conclusions, and recommended that Appellant's appeal from the EMD's denial of his formal grievance be denied. On June 16, 1989, the Board issued a decision adopting the hearing officer's second recommendation that Appellant should be reinstated with back pay and benefits. Neither the Director nor the Board adopted the hearing officer's third recommendation.
Thereafter, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, which was established on July 1, 1987, by combining the EMD and the Natural Resources Department, filed a notice of appeal from the decision of the Board to the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Appellant did not seek judicial review of the Director's denial of his grievance, nor did he cross-appeal on the issue of displacement rights. After a hearing, the district court adopted findings of fact and conclusions of law and a memorandum decision reversing the decision of the Board and finding, among other things, that the Board did not have jurisdiction to hear Appellant's administrative appeal, and that the Board's determination that Appellant had been constructively discharged was not supported by substantial evidence.
We review decisions of the district court involving appeals under the State Personnel Act applying the same standard and procedure as the district court. Jimenez v. Department of Corrections, 101 N.M. 795, 796, 689 P.2d 1266, 1267 (1984); Gallegos v. New Mexico State Corrections Dep't, 115 N.M. 797, 800, 858 P.2d 1276, 1279 (Ct.App.1992). Under NMSA 1978, Section 10-9-18(G) (Repl.Pamp.1992), both the district court and this Court on appeal will affirm the decision of the Board unless the ruling "is found to be: (1) arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion; (2) not supported by substantial evidence; or (3) otherwise not in accordance with law." See also Perkins v. Department of Human Servs., 106 N.M. 651, 654, 748 P.2d 24, 27 (Ct.App.1987).
Appellant argues that this Court should reverse the judgment of the district court and reinstate the decision of the Board because New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234, prohibited the EMD from abolishing Appellant's position. We disagree.
In reviewing Appellant's claims, we first examine the statutes authorizing the reorganization of the EMD. The 1987 legislature enacted two separate legislative provisions involving the department in which Appellant was previously employed: New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234 (the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Act); and Chapter 355 (the General Appropriation Act). New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234, authorized the reorganization and merger of two existing state agencies, the EMD and the Natural Resources Department, to create the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (the Department). As stated in New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234, Section 2, the purpose of the Act was "to establish a single, unified department to administer laws and exercise functions formerly administered and exercised by the energy and minerals department and the natural resources department." Chapter 234, Section 83(A)(3) also provided: "[T]he secretary shall not reduce staff below the FTE [full-time equivalent] limitations of the applicable general appropriation act in the seventy-sixth fiscal year except by attrition, transfer, dismissal for cause, and by no other means, except for positions already vacant on the effective date of the law." Chapter 234, Section 85 stated that "[t]he effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 1987."
Under New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 355, the General Appropriation Act for the seventy-sixth fiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, the legislature reduced the number of authorized FTEs from nineteen to sixteen for the EMD, Resource Development and Management Division, where Appellant was previously employed. Following the 1987 legislative session, Lockwood, in her capacity as Acting Secretary of the EMD, submitted a layoff plan to the Board. The Board and its director approved the plan and recognized the entire EMD as the organizational unit for the purpose of carrying out the layoffs. See State Personnel Board Rule 14.6(B) (Apr. 5, 1986) (). The plan provided that the layoffs detailed therein would take effect prior to July 1, 1987. The layoff plan submitted by Lockwood also followed the recommendation of the Legislative Finance Committee which proposed that Appellant's position be eliminated. Because Appellant's position was abolished pursuant to the layoff plan prior to July 1, 1987, the provisions of New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 234, Section 83(A)(3), restricting staff reductions, did not apply because Appellant's layoff was carried out prior to the effective date of Chapter 234.
Appellant seeks to avoid the conclusion that Chapter 234 cannot be applied to his situation by arguing that Chapter 234 must be deemed to be in pari materia with New Mexico Laws 1987, Chapter 355. In accord with Article IV, Section 23 of the New Mexico Constitution, Chapter 355 became effective prior to the date of Appellant's termination. While the two acts dealt with clearly overlapping subjects, we do not believe that the General Appropriation Act (Chapter 355) can be given sufficiently broad effect to require application of Chapter 234 before the effective date explicitly prescribed by the legislature. Moreover, reading the two laws together, and recognizing the difference in their effective dates, the laws appear to contemplate precisely the sort of reduction in force effected by Lockwood.
Thus, the dispositive question posed herein is: Does a state employee, whose position is eliminated because of a lawful reorganization of an agency or department, have a right to appeal the decision to eliminate his position once the proposed layoff plan has been submitted to the State Personnel Board, and the Board has given its approval to the layoff plan? We hold that Judge Herrera properly found, under the circumstances presented here, that the State Personnel Act (NMSA 1978, Sections 10-9-1 to -25 (Repl.Pamp.1992)) does not invest the Board with jurisdiction over such appeal. See Chalamidas v. Environmental Improvement Div., 102 N.M. 63, 66, 691 P.2d 64, 67 (Ct.App.1984) (); Blaine Hudson Printing v. Utah State Tax Comm'n, 870 P.2d 291, 292 (Utah Ct.App.1994) (...
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