Stallworth v. City of Evergreen

• Decision Date: 03 May 1996
• Citation: 680 So.2d 229
• Parties: 11 IER Cases 1197 Freddie L. STALLWORTH v. CITY OF EVERGREEN, Alabama, et al. 1941622.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 229

680 So.2d 229

11 IER Cases 1197

Freddie L. STALLWORTH v. CITY OF EVERGREEN, Alabama, et al.

1941622.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

May 3, 1996.

Rehearing Denied June 21, 1996.

Kenneth L. Thomas and Cynthia W. Clinton of Thomas, Means & Gillis, P.C., Montgomery, for Appellant.

Lawrence M. Wettermark and Andrew J. Rutens of Collins, Galloway & Smith, Mobile, for Appellees.

Kenneth Smith, Counsel, Alabama League of Municipalities, Montgomery, for Amicus Curiae Alabama League of Municipalities (in support of the City of Evergreen's rehearing application).

Peter S. Joffrion, Office of the City Attorney, Huntsville, for Amicus Curiae City of Huntsville (in support of the appellees' rehearing application).

Mylan R. Engel and Edgar P. Walsh of Engel, Walsh & Zoghby, Mobile, for Amicus Curiae Mobile County Personnel Board (in support of the Appellees' rehearing application).

William R. Lauten, Mobile, for Amicus Curiae City of Mobile.

J.R. Brooks and William W. Sanderson, Jr. of Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C., Huntsville, for Amicus Curiae City of Rainbow City (in support of the City of Evergreen's rehearing application).

James W. Webb, Bart Harmon and Mary E. Pilcher of Webb & Eley, P.C., Montgomery, for Amicus Curiae Association of County Commissions of Alabama (in support of the Appellees' application for rehearing).

Alex L. Holtsford, Jr. and Marianne T. Cosse of Nix, Holtsford & Vercelli, P.C., Montgomery, for Amicus Curiae Alabama Municipal Insurance Corp.

James W. Porter II and Tessa M. Thrasher of Porter, Porter & Hassinger, P.C., Birmingham, for Amicus Curiae City of Leeds.

HOUSTON, Justice.

Freddie L. Stallworth sued for a judgment declaring the termination of his employment to be invalid. He named as defendants the City of Evergreen; Henry Lomax Cassady, in his official capacity as mayor of Evergreen; Curtis Hamilton, in his official capacity as Evergreen's city administrator; and Jerry L. Caylor, James C. King, Phyllis N. Brock, Larry W. Fluker, and Elizabeth M. Stevens, in their official capacities as members of the Evergreen city council. He alleged certain unlawful employment practices in his termination from employment with the City. The trial court entered a judgment for the defendants. Stallworth appeals. We reverse and remand.

Stallworth was employed as personnel officer for the City and was responsible for maintaining employee records; developing, maintaining, and updating job classification and pay plans; and interpreting personnel policies for the City. His job as personnel officer was under the merit system, and he could be terminated only for cause. The mayor was the appointing authority for the City. Hamilton, as the city administrator supervised the department heads and was Stallworth's immediate supervisor.

At an executive session of the city council, Stallworth was asked to explain certain payroll discrepancies, but he failed to provide an explanation. Consequently, Hamilton recommended that disciplinary action be taken against Stallworth. The mayor concurred in that recommendation. Thereafter, by memorandum, Hamilton notified Stallworth that a hearing had been scheduled to consider his termination. In a subsequent memorandum, Hamilton notified Stallworth of the charges against him and of the witnesses to be called against him. At a pretermination hearing, Hamilton served as the hearing officer. Stallworth, who was represented by counsel, objected to Hamilton's serving as the hearing officer, because the City had been given notice that Stallworth would call Hamilton to testify at the hearing about his responsibilities as city administrator and because of a perceived lack of impartiality on Hamilton's part. When Hamilton was called as a witness, the mayor took over as the hearing officer, over Stallworth's objection based on the City's having called the mayor as a witness against Stallworth at this hearing. The City also called Councilman Caylor as a witness against Stallworth at this hearing.

Following the pretermination hearing, which lasted eight hours, the hearing officer determined that Stallworth had failed to provide an adequate explanation as to the payroll discrepancies. Following the hearing, the mayor and Hamilton, by memorandum, advised Stallworth that he was being terminated from employment and advised him of his right to appeal to the Evergreen Personnel Review Board ("the Review Board"). The Review Board was created to serve in a quasi-judicial capacity as the appeal body to consider grievances by the City's regular classified employees and part-time employees. (Section II A, p. 4, Personnel Handbook.) The Review Board is comprised of five members (not City employees or holders of office in the City), who are appointed by council members. (See Section II B, p. 4, Personnel Handbook.) The employee is "allowed to appear before the [Review Board] with reasonable representation of [his] choice, if [he] desires." (Section IX B, Step 3(c), p. 30, Personnel Handbook.) The Review Board "will hear the employee's grievance, gather pertinent documents, interview witnesses as necessary, and prepare a written statement of fact." (Section IX B, Step 3(d), p. 31, Personnel Handbook.) Pursuant to an amendment to the Personnel Handbook, "[w]ithin ten (10) working days of the hearing, the Personnel Review Board will make a determination in the case," and "[t]he mayor and council will review cases heard before the Personnel Review Board and make the final determination." (Amendment to Section IX B, Step 3(e), p. 31, Personnel Handbook.)

A full evidentiary hearing was held before the Review Board. During the hearing, the City called the mayor as a witness, and it also called Hamilton and Caylor as witnesses. However, neither the mayor nor Hamilton or Caylor participated in the Review Board's deliberations. The Review Board voted 3-2 to affirm Stallworth's termination.

Thereafter, the city council convened to make the final determination as to Stallworth's termination, as authorized by the Personnel Handbook. Caylor abstained from voting on the issue of Stallworth's termination because, he said, he had participated in the pretermination and Review Board hearings. However, the mayor, in spite of his participation at the pretermination and Review Board hearings, voted to uphold Stallworth's termination. Some council members expressed concern over what they considered an inability to make an informed decision without reliable information--they had been excluded from the Review Board hearing and they had no tape-recording, transcript, or other evidentiary materials pertaining to Stallworth's termination proceedings other than the written findings of the Review Board. In response to these concerns, the city attorney explained that council members had been excluded from the Review Board hearing because, he said, "if you had heard the Review Board proceedings, then you would be in no position to be sitting in the council's position, which is the third step." Thereafter, the city council with Caylor abstaining, voted 3-2 to terminate Stallworth.

The trial court affirmed the city council's approval of Stallworth's termination, holding, in part, as follows:

"3. ... [T]he Evergreen ordinance creating the personnel system provides adequate procedural due process rights as enunciated in McKinney v. Pate, 20 F.3d 1550 (11th Cir.1994), because the personnel review board is composed of citizens of Evergreen appointed by the City Council members, by district, and provides for a 'de novo hearing.'

"4. The Evergreen ordinance envisions [that] the termination proceedings and the providing of due process rights would be overseen by the city personnel officer. The statutory scheme was skewed in the instant case because the very person in charge of protecting the employee's rights was the subject of the termination action. The only two city officials superior to the personnel officer were the city administrator [Hamilton] and the mayor [Cassady]. The court finds and determines that the pre-termination hearing was flawed from a due process standpoint because both reviewing officers testified against [Stallworth] and were not impartial. The personnel review board was not so affected and [Stallworth] received a de novo hearing from them. However, the court notes that the written findings of the individual personnel review board members are ambiguous in certain aspects. Nevertheless, the vote remains 3-2 to approve the termination.

"5. For purposes of this case, the major issue is what is the meaning of 'review' by the City Council of the personnel review board's action. The ordinance fails to specify any criteria for the manner of review or the applicable standard for review. At the very minimum, the terminated employee is entitled to have the termination decision reviewed by a fair and impartial group acting on reliable information.

"6. In the instant case, ... Cassady and Caylor had testified against [Stallworth] at the personnel review board hearing. In addition, Mayor Cassady had been the moving force behind the termination of the personnel officer and the person responsible for gathering most of the evidence. The court concludes that in the factual setting of this case, the mayor [Cassady] and Councilperson Caylor were disqualified from voting to either affirm or reverse the decision of the personnel review board. While [Caylor] abstained from voting, Mayor Cassady did vote.

"7. While the Council received no evidence nor reviewed the record made at the personnel review board hearing, the Council members had been supplied with memoranda and correspondence between [Stallworth], the Mayor [Cassady], and the City Administrator [Hamilton]. Such materials provided a basis for the council members to render an informed decision with respect to the affirmance or reversal of the personnel review board.

"8. After the court's nullifying the Mayor's vote, the City Council vote remains at...