Washington Teachers' Union Local No. 6, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO v. Board of Educ. of the District of Columbia

• Decision Date: 21 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-7181,AFL-CIO,96-7181
• Citation: 324 U.S.App.D.C. 1,109 F.3d 774
• Parties: 154 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2875, 324 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 117 Ed. Law Rep. 42 WASHINGTON TEACHERS' UNION LOCAL # 6, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS,, et al., Appellants, v. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 774

109 F.3d 774

154 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2875, 324 U.S.App.D.C. 1,

117 Ed. Law Rep. 42

WASHINGTON TEACHERS' UNION LOCAL # 6, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, AFL-CIO, et al., Appellants, v. The BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees.

No. 96-7181.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Jan. 27, 1997.

Decided March 21, 1997.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 96cv01250).

Sally M. Tedrow, Washington, DC, argued the cause, for appellants. With her on the brief were James R. O'Connell and Curtis J. Lewis.

Donna M. Murasky, Assistant Corporation Counsel, Washington, DC, argued the cause, for appellees. With her on the brief were Charles F.C. Ruff, Corporation Counsel, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corporation Counsel. Lutz A. Prager, Assistant Deputy Corporation Counsel, entered an appearance.

Before: GINSBURG, HENDERSON and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

TATEL, Circuit Judge:

Responding to the financial crisis facing the District of Columbia and exercising newly granted Congressional authority to implement emergency reductions-in-force, the Board of Education fired over 400 teachers in July 1996. Several laid-off teachers and their union sued, claiming that because principals selected teachers for firing based on school-wide rather than system-wide seniority and considered teachers' professional experiences, contributions to their schools, and other non-seniority factors in ranking teachers for retention, the RIF violated the teachers' collective bargaining agreement and thus the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution. The Union also argued that the District's failure to provide pre-termination hearings violated the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause. We affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for the District. Not only were the emergency RIF procedures authorized by Congress, which is not subject to the Contract Clause, but we discern no conflict between those procedures and the collective bargaining agreement. The Due Process Clause does not require pre-termination hearings where, as here, the RIF is necessitated by a serious financial crisis, principals' decisions are highly discretionary, and D.C. law provides for post-termination challenges.

I

Until May 1996, District of Columbia regulations governing reductions-in-force of teachers and other employees in the Educational Service operated on the basis of seniority. D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 5, § 1504 (1995). Under those regulations, teachers were grouped according to tenure status--permanent, probationary, or temporary--and within those three categories, further separated into subgroups depending on veteran status. Id. § 1501. Within each subgroup, employees were ranked according to years of service. Id. § 1501.5(b). Employees earning "outstanding" ratings on their most recent performance evaluations were credited with four extra years of service. "Unsatisfactory" performance evaluations stripped employees of retention rights. Id. §§ 1503.4-.5. Reductions-in-force began by firing least-senior, non-veteran temporary employees, continuing if necessary to temporary employees with veteran status, then to non-veteran and veteran probationary employees, and finally to non-veteran and veteran permanent employees. Id. § 1504.

Also prior to May 1996, reductions-in-force were implemented agency-wide. D.C.CODE ANN. § 1-625.1 (1992 Repl.). Teachers competed with teachers in every other school for their positions; their "competitive area" was the entire school system, and their "competitive level" flowed from the requirements of their particular teaching positions. See id.; D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 5, § 1501.1 (defining "competitive level"). Eliminating ten social studies teacher positions, for example, required city-wide assessment of tenure status, years of service, and performance ratings of all social studies teachers in the school system. Depending on seniority and performance ratings, more-senior teachers could supplant less-senior teachers in other schools.

These procedures were changed significantly by two statutes enacted by Congress to deal with the District's financial crisis: the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995, Pub.L. No. 104-8, 109 Stat. 97 (1995), and the District of Columbia Appropriations Act of 1996 ("Budget Act"), Pub.L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321 (1996). The Financial Responsibility Act, which created the city's Control Board, repealed the 1979 Home Rule Act's guarantee of personnel benefits "at least equal to those provided [under the federal system]" to all federal employees who, with the advent of home rule, became District employees, replacing it with the following provision: "nothing in [the Home Rule Act] shall prohibit the District from separating an officer or employee ... in the implementation of a financial plan and budget for the District government approved under [the Financial Responsibility Act.]" Pub.L. 104-8, Tit. II, § 202(h), 109 Stat. 97, 116 (codified as amended at D.C.CODE ANN. § 1-242(3) (1996 Supp.)).

Enacted one year later, the 1996 Budget Act amended the District's personnel statutes in two relevant respects. First, it amended section 1-625.1 of the D.C.Code to allow agency heads to establish "lesser competitive areas within an agency" for purposes of a reduction-in-force. Pub.L. 104-134, Tit. I, § 149(a), 110 Stat. 1321, 1321-97 (codified as amended at D.C.CODE ANN. § 1-625.1 (1996 Supp.)). This amendment permitted the Superintendent of Schools to designate each school as a separate "competitive area," so that teachers at one school would compete for available positions only with teachers in that school, rather than city-wide.

Second, the Budget Act temporarily amended District law governing reductions-in-force by enacting section1-625.5 of the D.C.Code. Pub.L. 104-134, Tit. I, § 149(b), 110 Stat. 1321, 1321-98 (codified at D.C.CODE ANN. § 1-625.5 (1996 Supp.)). Subsection (a) of the new statute provided: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, regulation, or collective bargaining agreement either in effect or to be negotiated while this legislation is in effect for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1996, each agency head is authorized, within the agency head's discretion, to identify positions for abolishment." D.C.CODE ANN. § 1-625.5(a). Subsection (c) provided that "[n]otwithstanding any rights or procedures established by any other [personnel statute], any District government employee, regardless of date of hire, who encumbers a position identified for abolishment shall be separated without competition or assignment rights, except as provided in this section." Id. § 1-625.5(c). An employee"affected by the abolishment of a position" under section1-625.5 was entitled to "[one] round of lateral competition pursuant to Chapter 24 of the District of Columbia Personnel Manual ... limited to positions in the employee's competitive level." Id. § 1-625.5(d).

Section 1-625.5 of the D.C.Code also prohibited RIF'd teachers from challenging "the establishment of a competitive area smaller than an agency, ... the determination that a specific position is to be abolished, [ ]or separation pursuant to this section...." Id. § 1-625.5(g). Laid-off employees could appeal separation on three grounds. If they believed their terminations were discriminatory, they could file complaints for violation of the District of Columbia Human Rights Act with the District's Office of Human Rights. Id. § 1-625.5(g)(1); see also id. § 1-2544 (1992 Repl.). If they believed their terminations were in retaliation for protected speech in violation of their rights as District employees, they could file suit in Superior Court. Id. §§ 1-616.2-.3 (1992 Repl.). Or if they believed the notice and separation procedures of section 1-625.5 were not followed, they could file complaints with the Office of Employee Appeals. Id.s 1-625.5(g)(2).

In May 1996, a month after Congress passed the Budget Act, the School Board repealed its regulations governing reductions-in-force and enacted emergency rules instituting new RIF procedures. D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 5, § 1500 (1996). Instead of basing RIFs on seniority, the new rules directed school principals to fill out a "competitive level documentation form"--the "CLDF"--ranking all teachers occupying positions slated for abolishment on a scale of 1 to 25 in each of four areas: (1) relevant contributions, accomplishments, or performance, including "negative factors" such as disciplinary and attendance problems and failure to meet professional responsibilities; (2) relevant professional experience; (3) office or school needs, including curriculum and extracurricular sponsorship; and (4) length of service, with five years added for District residents. Id. § 1503; D.C.CODE ANN.s 1-625.5(e) (awarding five additional years of service for District residents); Decl. of James R. Daugherty (July 17, 1996), Ex. 4. Other than the computation of each teacher's length of service, performed by the School Board's human resources division, the regulations effectively made principals' rankings unreviewable by other school district officials. Daugherty Decl., Ex. 2 at 4-5.

Immediately after the Board issued the emergency rules, the Superintendent notified principals of the number of positions abolished at their schools. Principals then determined which positions at which competitive levels to abolish. Id. at 4. Using CLDF's and giving teachers an opportunity to review and sign them, principals selected teachers to be RIF'd. Beginning in mid-June, RIF'd teachers were given thirty days' notice of the loss of their positions. In July, at each school in the District, in each competitive level where teaching positions were eliminated, teachers with the lowest total scores on their ranking forms lost their jobs. Each of the over 400 teachers who were laid off...