City of Des Moines v. Civil Service Com'n of City of Des Moines

• Decision Date: 22 November 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-1394,94-1394
• Parties: CITY OF DES MOINES, Appellant, v. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF the CITY OF DES MOINES, Iowa, Appellee, and Jerry O. Smith, Intervenor-Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 52

540 N.W.2d 52

CITY OF DES MOINES, Appellant, v. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF the CITY OF DES MOINES, Iowa, Appellee and Jerry O. Smith, Intervenor-Appellee.

No. 94-1394.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 22, 1995.

Nelda Barrow Mickle, City Solicitor, Des Moines, for appellant.

Nolden Gentry of Brick, Gentry, Bowers, Swartz, Stoltze, Schuling & Levis, P.C., Des Moines, for appellee.

Charles E. Gribble and Pamela J. Prager of Whitfield & Eddy, P.L.C., Des Moines, for intervenor-appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, CARTER, LAVORATO, and SNELL, JJ.

McGIVERIN, Chief Justice.

The main question presented is whether a city civil service commission has jurisdiction to hear an appeal of a city firefighter discharged for a nondisciplinary reason. We believe the commission does have jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, and, therefore, we affirm the district court's order annulling a writ of certiorari issued in connection with the City's challenge to the commission's jurisdiction.

I. Background facts and proceedings. The present dispute arises from the plaintiff City of Des Moines' discharge of intervenor fire captain Jerry O. Smith from the Des Moines fire department.

The City hired Smith in June 1960. He worked in the City's public safety department, fire division, as a permanent, civil service employee for many years. The fire department is required to provide its fire personnel, such as Smith, with self-contained breathing apparatuses to be used at fire scenes.

In 1988, the City established a pulmonary function and cardio-pulmonary exercise test for new applicants and current employees. The standards were integrated into the fire department's system on the advice of the City's doctor, Dr. Steven Zorn, and a former fire chief.

The fire department's medical evaluation program is intended to ensure that its fire personnel assigned to fire suppression duty have sufficient cardio-pulmonary fitness to safely perform such duties while wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus. The fire department utilizes the spirometry test and, for those failing that test, an exercise stress test to determine whether each firefighter can safely perform fire suppression duties while wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus. ¹

Smith first failed the fire department's spirometry test in 1988, but passed the test each year from 1989-91. In August 1992, Smith failed the spirometry test and the stress test and was placed on sick leave effective September 1992. In January 1993, Smith failed the exercise stress test again and was allowed to remain on sick leave until he reached service retirement age in April 1993.

In March 1993, the City filed an application for ordinary disability retirement benefits on behalf of Smith with the Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System (MFPRS). See Iowa Code § 411.6(3) (1993). MFPRS denied the City's application on the ground that Smith had no physical incapacity that hindered his performance.

After the City's appeal of the decision was denied, the City stated to Smith that MFPRS's decision left Smith only two options: either (1) Smith could apply for service retirement pursuant to Iowa Code section 411.6(1), or (2) the City would have to discharge Smith for failure to meet the fire department's medical standard for cardio-pulmonary fitness. In a letter to Smith, fire chief Charles Morgan stated Smith had failed to meet the fire department's standard for more than a year, and there was no expectation that he would be able to meet the standard in the future.

In November, the City extended Smith's sick leave for forty-five days to allow him to seek service retirement, for which Smith ultimately declined to apply.

In June 1994, the City advised Smith he was being put on leave of absence, without pay but with benefits, until July 1. The City advised Smith to apply for service retirement prior to July 1 and, if he did not, the City would terminate his employment after that date.

On July 18, after a pre-termination hearing, the City terminated Smith's employment. The City dismissed Smith solely for failure to meet the fire department's medical standard for cardio-pulmonary fitness necessary for assignment to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus and safely perform the fire suppression duties of his job. It is undisputed that Smith does not meet the fire department's cardio-pulmonary fitness standard and has not met the standard since August 1992.

Smith appealed his discharge to the Civil Service Commission of Des Moines (commission) claiming his discharge was arbitrary and in violation of Iowa Code chapter 400. In response, the City filed a written specification of the charges and grounds upon which Smith's termination was based. See Iowa Code § 400.22. The City also filed a motion to dismiss Smith's appeal, contending the commission lacked jurisdiction over the matter.

After the commission overruled the City's motion to dismiss and set Smith's appeal for hearing, the City filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the district court. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 306, 309. Smith filed a petition of intervention on the side of the commission. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 75. In its petition for the writ, the City claimed the commission acted in excess of its statutory authority, see Iowa Code § 400.27, by denying the City's motion to dismiss and setting Smith's appeal for hearing. A writ of certiorari was granted. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 309.

After a hearing, see Iowa R.Civ.P. 315, the district court annulled the writ of certiorari, see Iowa R.Civ.P. 316, holding the commission had jurisdiction and authority, under Iowa Code chapter 400, to determine whether Smith's discharge was arbitrary.

The court also held the commission had authority to rule whether or not the City's medical standard, pursuant to which the City discharged Smith, was arbitrary.

The City appealed the district court's judgment that annulled the writ of certiorari. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 318. Several issues are presented concerning the jurisdiction and propriety of the commission to hear an appeal from a nondisciplinary discharge of a civil service employee.

II. Standard of review. A certiorari action shall be by ordinary proceedings, so far as applicable. Iowa R.Civ.P. 317. Our review of this certiorari action is for correction of errors at law. Iowa Dep't of Transp. v. Iowa Dist. Court for Woodbury County, 488 N.W.2d 174, 175 (Iowa 1992). We will sustain a writ of certiorari where the commission acted beyond its authority or jurisdiction. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 306; cf. Iowa Dep't of Transp. v. Iowa Dist. Court for Poweshiek County, 530 N.W.2d 725, 726 (Iowa 1995).

III. Applicability of Iowa Code chapter 400 to nondisciplinary terminations of civil service employees. The City contends Iowa Code chapter 400 does not confer jurisdiction on the city civil service commission to entertain appeals of civil service employees discharged for nondisciplinary reasons. Smith is such an employee and the City discharged him for failure to meet a fire department medical fitness standard. He was not discharged for a disciplinary reason. See Iowa Code § 400.19.

The City premises its argument on two theories: (a) Iowa Code section 400.27 confers jurisdiction on the commission to hear and determine only rights of civil service employees arising under chapter 400 and Smith's discharge did not arise under chapter 400; and, in the alternative, (b) Iowa Code section 400.20 permits appeals by civil service employees arising only from disciplinary suspensions, discharges, and demotions. We consider the arguments in turn.

A. Iowa Code section 400.27 is chapter 400's general jurisdiction provision, which states in relevant part:

The civil service commission has jurisdiction to hear and determine matters involving the rights of civil service employees under this chapter, and may affirm, modify, or reverse any case on its merits.

(Emphasis added.) The City first contends that the statute's language "under this chapter," which was added by the legislature in 1986, see 1986 Iowa Acts ch. 1138, § 9, shows legislative intent to restrict the scope of the commission's jurisdiction in a manner that would preclude hearing Smith's appeal of his nondisciplinary discharge. We disagree. Our decision in Schulz v. City of Davenport, 444 N.W.2d 479, 481 (Iowa 1989) addressed this amendment. In Schulz, we stated that we were "less than certain ... that this amendment added much to the meaning of the statute as applied to employee appeals." Id. Based on this statement in Schulz, we conclude that the legislative history of Iowa Code section 400.27 does not preclude the commission's jurisdiction to hear Smith's appeal.

Furthermore, because Smith has a right, as interpreted by our case law, see Anderson v. Board of Civil Serv. Comm'rs, 227 Iowa 1164, 1168, 290 N.W. 493, 494 (1940), to not be arbitrarily discharged "under this chapter," we believe that his nondisciplinary discharge plainly arises within the jurisdictional parameters of Iowa Code section 400.27. See id. (civil service removal statute is intended to provide some protection and safeguards against arbitrary actions by superior officers in removing civil service employees for reasons other than those named in the statute ); see also Sioux City Police Officers' Ass'n v. City of Sioux City, 495 N.W.2d 687, 695 (Iowa 1993) (citing Anderson ).

B. The City's alternative argument is premised on the scope of Iowa Code section 400.20. Section 400.20 only relates to the commission's appellate jurisdiction and provides:

The suspension, demotion, or discharge of a person holding civil service rights may be appealed to the civil service commission within fourteen calendar days after the suspension, demotion, or discharge.

By way of further comparison, Iowa Code section 400.19, which enumerates four types of disciplinary discharges invocable by a fire chief, is narrower in scope than section 400.20 which applies...