Smith v. Sorensen
| Decision Date | 06 December 1984 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 83-2136,83-2138 and 83-2139,s. 83-2136 |
| Citation | 748 F.2d 427 |
| Parties | Gloria R. SMITH, Appellee, v. Ronald E. SORENSEN, Commissioner of Labor, Department of Labor, State of Nebraska; William R. Loder, Director, Comprehensive Employment & Training Unit, Department of Labor, State of Nebraska; Department of Labor, State of Nebraska; Director of the Merit System of the State of Nebraska; and State of Nebraska, Appellants. Richard GETTEMY and Donna Polk, Appellees, v. Ronald E. SORENSEN, et al., Appellants. James L. BAUDLER, Appellee, v. Ronald E. SORENSEN, et al., Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Mark D. Starr, Lincoln, Neb., for appellants.
Donn E. Davis and Steven D. Burns, Lincoln, Neb., for appellees.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, and McMILLIAN and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges.
Gloria R. Smith, Richard Gettemy, Donna Polk and James L. Baudler, employees of the Comprehensive Employment Training Unit (CETA), a division within the Nebraska Department of Labor, were notified that they were to be laid off. They were so selected because a reduction in force guideline limited consideration of their seniority only to time with CETA instead of the entirety of their employment with the Department and also similarly limited their "bumping rights." They brought suit against Ronald Sorensen, Commissioner of Labor, State of Nebraska; William R. Loder, Director, Comprehensive Employment & Training Unit; the Department of Labor, State of Nebraska; the Director of the Merit System of the State of Nebraska; and the State of Nebraska under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) claiming that because of the limitation of their seniority rights there was a deprivation of due process of law in the attempted layoffs and an impermissible impairment of their employment contracts by the state and its officials. The district court, after issuing preliminary injunctions restraining the layoffs, entered orders determining that all plaintiffs were entitled to retention points based on their total service with the Department of Labor instead of CETA service alone. It further determined bumping rights and awarded attorneys' fees. The district court also found that Baudler was included in the layoff in part because he was a Democrat during a Republican administration. The state, its departments, and its officers appeal. We reverse.
Smith, Gettemy, Polk and Baudler were employed by the CETA Division of the Nebraska State Department of Labor. CETA was formed in 1974 to administer federally funded employment programs. All four employees had transferred into CETA from other positions in the Department of Labor. In 1981, Loder, the Director of CETA, decided to reorganize the Division because of anticipated decreased funding and prepared a reduction in force (RIF) guideline. After Loder sent notifications of termination to Gettemy, Smith and Polk, they filed suit, and the district court preliminarily enjoined such termination. The RIF was suspended but reinstituted by Loder in late November with respect to other employees, including Baudler. After Baudler filed suit, the court issued a temporary restraining order preventing his layoff.
In early 1981, the Commissioner of Labor of Nebraska, John Hanlon, had requested that Loder prepare guidelines for a RIF for CETA. Loder testified that the RIF was instituted not only because of an anticipated reduction in funds but also because of his desire to change the management structure of the division so that a greater proportion of the division's budget would be spent for the delivery of programs to the recipients and less on program administration. The revised structure of CETA eliminated the positions of Gettemy, the Administrative Services Manager, and Baudler, the Planning Manager. The RIF guideline defined the order of layoff for CETA employees by using a retention point calculation based on the time of service each employee had with the Division. Commendable ratings also entitled the employees to additional points. The guideline provided for rank-ordered bumping rights to the same classification in another organizational unit or a sub-unit, or to the next lower position in the same class series. 1 In the absence of these two situations, the employee was entitled to bump to a classification previously held while continuously employed by CETA if the classification was still being used in CETA at the time of the bumping.
At trial, Smith, Gettemy, Polk and Baudler argued they were entitled to more retention points than they were awarded under the RIF guideline because they should have been given seniority for service in all divisions of the Department of Labor. Gettemy, Baudler and Polk all claimed broader bumping privileges than the state and its officials granted. Gettemy and Baudler claimed a right to bump to the Operations Manager position in CETA; Polk claimed bumping rights to a personnel officer position or to similar positions in any division of the Department of Labor or any other Merit System agency.
In its opinion, the district court first determined that appellees possessed a property interest in continued employment that would be protected by the fourteenth amendment. After pointing out that all agreed that the plaintiffs possessed property rights in retention points equal to those granted in the RIF guideline, the court further determined that "the reasonable interpretation of the present [Merit System] Rules entitles each of the plaintiffs to a reasonable expectation that he or she would receive retention points calculated on their entire tenure with the Department of labor." The district court also found that all the employees had transferred to CETA with assurances that they would retain their seniority. The court separately analyzed the bumping rights of Gettemy, Baudler and Polk, finding that Gettemy had a right to bump to the Operations Manager position in CETA and, eventually, that Polk had a right to bump to a Personnel Officer II position in CETA. The district court also found that Baudler was included in the layoff in part because of his political affiliation and that an inclusion so motivated constituted a deprivation of a protected right.
The district court then concluded that the employees had been deprived of these rights without due process of law. It rejected the argument that adequate due process was available through the Merit System rules, which provided for appeal to the Merit Council and a resulting recommendation to the appointing authority. It concluded:
The role of the Merit Council is advisory only; the appointing authority--in this case the CETA Division of the Department of Labor--remained the ultimate judge of the propriety of its decision. There is no neutral arbiter able to make a decision that is binding on the CETA Division. This is not to say that Merit System Rule 13(9) is violative of due process; it is only to say that the appeal process of that Rule does not provide a process adequate in itself to constitute a sufficient substitute for an effective pretermination process.
The district court next found that the 1978 Merit System rules created express contracts of employment. It determined that the defendants had impermissibly impaired such contracts in their improper calculation of retention points, denial of bumping rights to Gettemy and Polk, and political discrimination against Baudler.
The district court further found that Baudler had no claim under the first amendment to be free from inclusion in the layoff because of his political affiliation. It held that under the test of Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976), Baudler was in a policymaking position, one not constitutionally protected from patronage-based decisions.
The district court finally concluded that it need not give great weight to the interpretation of the rules by the Merit System. It then proceeded to spell out the extent of relief for each of the individuals. All were declared entitled to retention points based on their total length of service with the Department of Labor. Their bumping rights were limited to positions within CETA and not to positions in other divisions of the Department of Labor or elsewhere in the state government. Gettemy was declared entitled to injunctive measures to insure that he was considered to have held the Operations Manager position. Baudler was entitled to a declaration that his inclusion in the layoff was affected by his political affiliation. He was entitled to bump to a Planning Specialist position without reduction of pay, since that otherwise would penalize him because of his political affiliation. Polk was eventually found to be entitled to bump to a Personnel Officer II position in CETA. The district court awarded Baudler, Polk and Gettemy attorneys' fees of $29,930.25 and costs and expenses of $852.97. Smith was awarded attorneys' fees, costs and expenses of $29,593.21.
The state, its departments, and its officers have appealed, arguing that the court erred in each of its conclusions supporting the judgment. Baudler has not appealed from the adverse ruling on his first amendment claim.
The state and its officers argue that the district court erred in declaring that the employees were entitled to have their retention points calculated upon their total time of service with the Department of Labor as opposed to that with CETA. The district court based its determination upon its interpretation of the Merit System rules. It properly looked to such rules in determining the extent of the employees' property interests, since such interests are created by, and their dimensions and sufficiency are judged by, "state law--rules * * * that secure certain benefits and * * * support claims of entitlement." Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 577, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2709, 33...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
At&T Communications v. Southwestern Bell Tele.
...89 L.Ed. 1700 (1945) (defining this standard to evaluate federal agency's interpretations of its own regulation); Smith v. Sorensen, 748 F.2d 427, 432 (8th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1054, 105 S.Ct. 2116, 85 L.Ed.2d 480 (1985) (state agency's interpretation of its own regulation shou......
-
Freeman v. Poling
...the court concluded that such promises were not enforceable. See Carducci v. Regan, 714 F.2d 171, 177 (D.C.Cir.1983); Smith v. Sorensen, 748 F.2d 427, 431-32 (8th Cir.1984); Davis v. Oregon State University, 591 F.2d 493 (9th Cir.1978); Chambliss v. Foote, 421 F.Supp. 12 (E.D.La.1976), aff'......
-
AGI-Bluff Manor, Inc. v. Reagen
...than the state legislature. The Contract Clause restrains only state legislatures and not Executive Branch agencies. Smith v. Sorensen, 748 F.2d 427, 437 (8th Cir.1984). For this reason, even if the alleged settlement agreement created a contractual obligation with respect to certain reimbu......
-
Sisney v. Kaemingk
...we defer to a state agency's interpretation of its own regulation "if the meaning of the words used is in doubt," Smith v. Sorensen , 748 F.2d 427, 432 (8th Cir. 1984) (citing Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co. , 325 U.S. 410, 413-14, 65 S.Ct. 1215, 89 L.Ed. 1700 (1945) ), we do so only aft......