Hansen v. White

• Decision Date: 31 August 1988
• Docket Number: No. 17139,17139
• Citation: 762 P.2d 820,114 Idaho 907
• Parties: Fred HANSEN, Joanne Hansen, Daryl Sparks and Betty Tueller, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Randall WHITE and Bear Lake County, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 820

762 P.2d 820

114 Idaho 907

Fred HANSEN, Joanne Hansen, Daryl Sparks and Betty Tueller, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Randall WHITE and Bear Lake County, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 17139.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Aug. 31, 1988.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 20, 1988.

Morgan & George, Pocatello, for plaintiffs-appellants. Ronald S. George argued.

Ward, Maguire, Bybee & Kline, Pocatello, for defendants-respondents. David H. Maguire argued.

BISTLINE, Justice.

Pursuant to I.A.R. 12.1, the Ninth Circuit certified the following question to this Court:

Under Idaho law, have the county commissioners authority to institute a merit system binding county officers, particularly the sheriff, under which such officers may not terminate deputies and other employees in their department except for cause?

We conclude that a sheriff's constitutional right to appoint deputies is not abridged where county commissioners institute a merit system prohibiting the dismissal of deputies without cause, so long as the merit system is reasonable under the circumstances.

I. FACTS

The facts, as stated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, are as follows:

In October, 1978, the Bear Lake County Commissioners adopted the Bear Lake County Personnel Handbook. This handbook established basic administrative procedures for the various county departments and policies on employee fringe benefits, compensation and classification. Of importance to this case, the handbook specifically provided for a twelve-month probationary period during which a new employee could be eliminated at any time if his performance did not meet the required standard of work. Once an employee completes the period, he is classified as a "permanent employee." The handbook is silent with respect to the grounds for termination of a permanent employee.

Shortly after adoption of the handbook, Tueller was hired as a dispatcher by Sheriff Larry Hardin. At the time of her hiring, Tueller was told by Sheriff Hardin that pursuant to the handbook, once Tueller had served the probationary period she would become a permanent full-time employee who could only be discharged for cause. Aware of the provisions of the handbook, Tueller completed the twelve-month period at which time she considered herself a tenured employee. Later Sheriff Hardin transferred Tueller from dispatcher to office deputy at which time he sent a letter to the Commissioners informing them of the transfer and that Tueller was a tenured employee.

Fred Hansen was also hired by Sheriff Hardin. Like Tueller, he was informed of the handbook and its provisions for a probationary period. Several days before Fred Hansen had completed the twelve-month period, Sheriff Hardin sent a letter to the Commissioners informing them of Hansen's upcoming change to permanent full-time status.

Thereafter, Fred Hansen left his job with the department to become a police officer in Logan, Utah. While he was gone, Sheriff Hardin resigned, and Daryl Sparks, a permanent status deputy, was appointed by the Commissioners to serve the balance of Hardin's term as sheriff. After Sheriff Sparks took office, he offered Fred Hansen a position as a deputy sheriff and promised him that if he accepted he would only have to serve a six-month probationary period. The reasons for the shortened period were Hansen's prior job experience and performance and the fact that Hansen would be able to complete the time prior to the upcoming election. Fred Hansen accepted the position and completed the six-month period at which time Sheriff Sparks sent a letter to the Commissioners stating that, as Sheriff, Sparks was waiving the balance of the probation time and now considered Hansen 'a merit employee who cannot be separated except for cause and in accordance with departmental policy for merit employees.'

Joanne Hansen, Fred Hansen's wife, worked as a dispatcher for a period of time under Sheriff Hardin, but left her job when Fred went to work in Logan. After Fred returned to Bear Lake County as deputy, Joanne began working for the department as a dispatcher on a part-time basis and later full time. Upon becoming a full-time employee, Sheriff Sparks agreed that Joanne also need only serve a six-month probationary period. Upon completing the six months, Sheriff Sparks sent a letter to the Commissioners informing them that he was waiving the balance of the probation time and that he considered Joanne a merit employee who could not be separated except for cause.

In the 1982 Idaho state Republican primary, incumbent sheriff Sparks ran against Randall White and was defeated. Despite this defeat, Sparks ran as a write-in candidate in the general election in November. White won the election. Sparks finished out his term and then sought to revert to his former status as a tenured deputy.

During the election period, Fred Hansen, Joanne Hansen, and Betty Tueller had actively campaigned for Sparks. On the day Sheriff White took office, he delivered written termination notices to appellants. Of the remaining seven employees in the Sheriff's Department, White fired only one other.

After being fired, appellants, along with former Sheriff Sparks, filed a claim with the Bear Lake County Commissioners, charging that Sheriff White had no justification for terminating them and in fact had terminated them because of their support of Sparks. The Commissioners denied the claim without a hearing. However several months later, appellants were granted a hearing before the Commissioners at which time they presented their grievance. The Commissioners again refused to take any actions stating that they had no authority to overrule Sheriff White's decision to terminate an employee in his department.

Appellants and Daryl Sparks brought suit in federal district court alleging breach of contract under Idaho state law, the state tort of wrongful termination, and a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that they had been terminated in retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights to support the campaign of Daryl Sparks. The complaint was later amended to include a § 1983 claim that appellants were terminated without due process of law because they had not been afforded a meaningful hearing prior to being fired.

Appellees moved to dismiss and/or for summary judgment on the federal claims. They also moved to dismiss the two pendent state claims. The district court granted summary judgment against Daryl Sparks on the ground that as an elected official defeated in the 1982 election, he had no claim to continued employment in the Sheriff's Department. The court denied the motions with respect to appellants; however, it did strike their request for punitive damages. Prior to trial, appellants abandoned their tort claim for wrongful discharge.

On the second day of trial, the district court changed its mind and announced from the bench that it was ruling that under Idaho law the Commissioners had no power to set up a merit system that would bind the Sheriff. The court stated that its ruling applied to both the state breach of contract claim as well as the federal due process claim. As an alternate basis for its ruling, the court noted that even if the commissioners could establish a merit system, the claims by Fred and Joanne Hansen would still fail since those two had not completed the twelve-month probationary period prior to being terminated and that 'the outgoing sheriff could not waive the requirement and thus require the incoming sheriff to accept deputies who had not met the requirement of a year of satisfactory service in order to get their security for appointment.' Pursuant to the court's decision, appellants proceeded to make their offer of proof on the breach of contract and due process claims. On appeal, we treat the court's decision as granting summary judgment for appellees on those causes of action.

The trial proceeded on the First Amendment claim, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of appellees. In accordance with that verdict, the district court entered judgment on August 27, 1985 in favor of appellees and awarded them costs of $3,000.00.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Certifying Question to the Idaho Supreme Court, No. 85-4202, June 22, 1987.

This appeal presents a two-step inquiry. First, has the board of county commissioners been granted the authority by the Idaho legislature to establish a merit system binding the sheriff? Second, if so, does a merit system which prohibits the termination of employees, absent cause, violate the sheriff's art. 1, § 6 right to appoint deputies and clerical assistants?

II. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH A MERIT SYSTEM

Article 18, § 5 of the Idaho Constitution provides that the legislature shall establish a uniform system of county governments. ¹ In response, the legislature has enacted Title 31 of the Idaho Code, entitled "Counties and County Law." Chapters 7 and 8 thereof pertain to the board of county commissioners, including their powers and duties. I.C. § 31-714 provides in part:

The board of county commissioners may pass all ordinances and rules and make all regulations, not repugnant to law, necessary for carrying into effect or discharging the powers and duties conferred by the laws of the state of Idaho, and such as are necessary or proper to provide for the safety, promote the health and prosperity, improve the morals, peace and good order, comfort and convenience of the county and the inhabitants thereof.

Idaho Code § 31-601 states that every county is a body politic, and has the powers specified in Title 31 or in other statutes, and "such powers as are necessarily implied from those expressed." Thus, as the legislative arm of county government, the board of county commissioners has both expressed and implied power to promulgate ordinances, rules and regulations, which, in the judgment of the board, promote the general welfare of the county.

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