Title: Doidge v. State, Bd. of Charities and Reform

State: wyoming

Issuer: Wyoming Supreme Court

Document:

Doidge v. State, Bd. of Charities and Reform1990 WY 37789 P.2d 880Case Number: 89-152Decided: 04/06/1990Supreme Court of Wyoming
JOHN R. DOIDGE, 

APPELLANT 
(PETITIONER),

v.

STATE OF WYOMING, BOARD 
OF CHARITIES AND REFORM, 

APPELLEE 
(RESPONDENT).

Appeal from the District 
Court, Uinta County, John D. Troughton, J.

Robert C. Morton 
of Harris and Morton, P.C., Evanston, for appellant.

Robert A. 
Nicholas, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before 
CARDINE, C.J., and THOMAS, URBIGKIT, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.

MACY, Justice.

[¶1]            
Appellant John R. Doidge appeals from an order denying his petition for 
review of the decision by the Personnel Division of the Department of 
Administration and Fiscal Control (DAFC) not to grant him a hearing after 
Appellee Board of Charities and Reform (the Board) removed him from the position 
of superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital.

[¶2]      We 
affirm.

[¶3]            
Doidge presents the following issues for our review:

     Did the district court 
err[][] in failing to find that Appellant retained his status as permanent 
employee when he was appointed to the superintendent position at the Wyoming 
State Hospital[?]

     If the answer to the 
first issue as stated above is in the affirmative, the next issue is whether or 
not Appellant was afforded procedural due process when the State denied 
Appellant's request for a hearing, and where documents were submitted in 
violation of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure.

[¶4]            
Doidge was hired on October 15, 1984, as a staff psychologist at the 
Wyoming State Hospital. On November 1, 1985, he attained permanent employee 
status according to the personnel rules for executive branch employees.1 The Board appointed Doidge to the 
position of superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital on November 1, 1987. 
After Doidge had served as superintendent for approximately one year, the Board 
notified him that he was being dismissed. The Board did not reinstate Doidge as 
a staff psychologist, but it did inform him that he could apply for that 
position.

[¶5]      On November 3, 
1988, the Personnel Division of DAFC received a petition for review from Doidge, 
claiming that he was a permanent employee whose employment was terminated 
without the benefit of a hearing as required by the personnel rules. In his 
petition, Doidge requested that he be afforded procedural rights guaranteed to 
permanent employees by the personnel rules and that he be reinstated as a staff 
psychologist.2

[¶6]      In a letter dated 
December 15, 1988, the personnel administrator for the Personnel Division of 
DAFC informed Doidge that he was not entitled to a hearing because he 
voluntarily vacated his permanent position as staff psychologist and because 
Wyo. Stat. § 25-1-201(b)(i) (1977) gave the Board authority to remove the 
superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital without cause. On January 12, 1989, 
Doidge filed a petition for review in the district court, reiterating his 
allegations that he was a permanent employee and that he was denied the 
procedural due process granted to permanent employees by the personnel rules. 
Doidge requested that the court find the Board's action unlawful, remand the 
matter back to the Board for a formal hearing, and award him back pay for the 
period of time between his discharge and the date of a formal 
hearing.

[¶7]      On May 31, 1989, 
the district court issued an order denying Doidge's petition for review. The 
court's decision letter stated that Doidge did not retain his permanent employee 
status when he accepted the appointment as superintendent of the Wyoming State 
Hospital and that, therefore, the Board could dismiss him as superintendent 
without a hearing.

[¶8]      We review a 
district court decision concerning an appeal from an administrative action or 
inaction which adversely affects a person according to the standards prescribed 
in W.R.A.P. 12.093 and Wyo. Stat. § 16-3-114(c) 
(1977). Employment Security Commission of Wyoming v. Western Gas Processors, 
Ltd., 786 P.2d 866 (Wyo. 1990); Cook v. Zoning Board of Adjustment for the City 
of Laramie, 776 P.2d 181 (Wyo. 1989); Department of Revenue and Taxation of 
State of Wyoming v. Casper Legion Baseball Club, Inc., 767 P.2d 608 (Wyo. 1989). 
Section 16-3-114(c) states:

     To the extent 
necessary to make a decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall 
decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory 
provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency 
action. In making the following determinations, the court shall review the whole 
record or those parts of it cited by a party and due account shall be taken of 
the rule of prejudicial error. The reviewing court shall:

(i) Compel agency action 
unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed; and

(ii) Hold unlawful and 
set aside agency action, findings and conclusions found to be:

(A) Arbitrary, 
capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with 
law;

(B) Contrary to 
constitutional right, power, privilege or immunity;

(C) In excess of 
statutory jurisdiction, authority or limitations or lacking statutory 
right;

(D) Without observance of 
procedure required by law; or

(E) Unsupported by 
substantial evidence in a case reviewed on the record of an agency hearing 
provided by statute.

When the issue 
on appeal is a conclusion of law, we will affirm the agency's decision if it is 
in accordance with law. Western Gas Processors, Ltd., 786 P.2d 866.

[¶9]            
Doidge contends that he was entitled to have a hearing before the Board 
terminated his employment with the Wyoming State Hospital because he was a 
permanent employee under the personnel rules. We disagree. The Board has 
authority to discharge the superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital without 
cause. Section 25-1-201(b)(i). Whether Doidge retained his permanent employee 
status as a staff psychologist after the Board appointed him to the position of 
superintendent depends upon the construction and application of the personnel 
rules promulgated by DAFC. This Court has stated that rules and regulations 
adopted pursuant to statutory authority have the force and effect of law. Distad 
v. Cubin, 633 P.2d 167 (Wyo. 1981); Yeik v. Department of Revenue and Taxation, 
595 P.2d 965 (Wyo. 1979).4 We have also held that we will 
defer to an administrative agency's construction of its rules unless such 
construction is clearly erroneous or inconsistent with the plain meaning of the 
rules. Croxton v. Board of County Commissioners of Natrona County, 644 P.2d 780 
(Wyo. 1982).

[¶10]            
Doidge has failed to show that the personnel administrator's 
interpretation of the personnel rules was clearly erroneous or inconsistent with 
the plain meaning of the rules. Instead, Doidge argues that this case is 
analogous to Spurlock v. Board of Trustees, Carbon County School District No. 1, 
699 P.2d 270 (Wyo. 1985). In that case, this Court held that a school principal 
who was a tenured teacher before he became a principal did not lose his tenure 
as a teacher when he was discharged from the position of principal. We explained 
that Spurlock retained his tenure because

there would be a simple 
procedure to circumvent a teacher's tenure: make him a principal and then 
discharge him. It is desirable - and even important - to have people with 
extensive classroom teaching experience in administrative positions. It would be 
difficult to fill administrative positions with experienced teachers if the 
teachers would have to give up tenure upon accepting administrative 
positions.

Id. at 272. We 
held that the school board had to adhere to the procedural rights guaranteed to 
tenured teachers before it could discharge Spurlock.

[¶11]   The questionable policy employed to 
justify the Spurlock decision does not apply in this case. We affirm the 
personnel administrator's decision that Doidge did not retain his permanent 
employee status when he accepted the appointment to serve as the superintendent 
of the Wyoming State Hospital. Because he served as superintendent of the 
Wyoming State Hospital at the will of the Board, Doidge was not entitled to a 
hearing before the Board terminated his employment.

[¶12]            
Affirmed.

THOMAS, Justice, concurring 
specially.

[¶13]   I concur in the majority opinion in 
this case, and I am in complete agreement with all the propositions that it 
encompasses. In addition, I must disagree with the attempt by Doidge to preserve 
his prior position as a vacancy while serving as Superintendent of the State 
Hospital. That effort to maintain his tenured status on the staff evidences a 
clear conflict of interest. If one assumes that a full staff is important to the 
delivery of those services that are to be furnished by the State Hospital, the 
maintenance of that vacancy as a fall-back position for himself was incompatible 
with Doidge's duties as Superintendent. The effort to preserve a vacancy for 
himself, at the expense of a full staff, should not be countenanced.

[¶14]            
Furthermore, § 25-1-201(b)(i), W.S. 1977, provides that the State Board 
of Charities and Reform:

"(b) * * * [S]hall 
appoint and may remove without cause the following officers:

"(i) Superintendents of 
the Wyoming * * * state hospital * * *; (emphasis added)."

An appointment 
is different from a promotion, and the applicable statutory language serves to 
distinguish this case from the case of Spurlock v. Board of Trustees, Carbon 
County School District No. 1, 699 P.2d 270 (Wyo. 1985).

[¶15]   One cannot be appointed to an 
office or position without one's consent. Perhaps the same notion applies to a 
promotion, but the two means of advancement do not encompass the same 
dynamics.

"* * * To appoint is to 
designate or assign to a position. To promote is to advance or progress to a 
higher grade, position or degree." Daub v. Coupe, 9 A.D.2d 260, 193 N.Y.S.2d 47, 
52 (1959).

"Ordinarily the word, 
`appoint,' means to name or designate some person to hold an office. It involves 
a matter of choice in the selection of the person to hold the office." State ex 
rel. Brothers v. Zellar, 7 Ohio St.2d 109, 218 N.E.2d 729, 732 
(1966).

[¶16]   While the distinction may be fine, 
it is significant. The statutory authority to appoint the Superintendent of the 
State Hospital assumes an unfettered choice vested in the State Board of 
Charities and Reform. If its statutory authority were to promote, then it would 
be required to fill the position from tenured staff. It is not required to do 
that, however, and the result is that the appointee, even if previously a member 
of the tenured staff, assumes the appointment with no greater privileges, and 
the same impediments, as an appointee from outside the tenured staff. Doidge 
voluntarily sought that status when he pursued the appointment.

[¶17]   It is clear that Doidge was not 
promoted, and he cannot be demoted. Under the language of the statute, he could 
be removed without cause, and that is what the Board did. The removal left him 
with no right to be reinstated in his tenured position. He voluntarily severed 
that relationship when he sought, and received, the appointment.

URBIGKIT, Justice, dissenting, 
with whom GOLDEN, Justice, joins.

[¶18]   We are presented with an appeal 
involving appellant John R. Doidge, Ph.D., J.D., a terminated State employee, 
and appellee State of Wyoming as employer. This court cites only one case in 
analysis of contention and decision. That case is Spurlock v. Board of Trustees, 
Carbon County School Dist. No. 1, 699 P.2d 270 (Wyo. 1985), decided five years 
ago by a unanimous court.

[¶19]   It is my perception that unless we 
reverse Spurlock, we play word games in affirming denied rights to this recently 
discharged State employee. Consequently, I dissent and would apply Spurlock in 
its plain terms. After all, appellant only asked for a hearing on retention 
within his tenured employee status obtained before promotion to the 
Superintendent of the Wyoming State Hospital, and even that has been denied to 
him. My enthusiasm for requiring hearing protection for this employee upon 
termination comes from the failure, when he was offered the position, of any 
advice that he would, unlike Spurlock, sacrifice all of his earned right as a 
tenured State employee if he accepted the offer. He was not informed by the 
Board of Charities and Reform or its administrative director and he was not 
alerted by anything in personnel rules or regulations. As a matter of law, he 
was probably mislead by the Spurlock decision being both recent and well known. 
There was a total absence of statement in the Wyoming state personnel rules 
warning a covered employee that upon promotion to a non-tenured administrative 
responsibility in the same agency, the promotion would be considered to be a 
resignation causing loss of any previously earned rights under the Wyoming state 
personnel rules.

[¶20]   To play fair in this business, it 
seems to me appellant should have been told when considering the advancement in 
the agency that the acceptance constituted resignation from the previous 
position so that all of his eggs would be in one basket of success as the 
promoted administrator. This could have been done either by notice with the 
offer or by provisions of the personnel rules which define rights for state 
employees. Neither was done.1

[¶21]   It is unquestionable that 
appellant, in his employment at the Wyoming State Hospital as a psychologist, 
had earned tenured status and general rights provided by the Wyoming state 
personnel rules. It also is unquestionable that those rules, with propriety of 
adoption unquestioned in this record, have the force and effect of law since 
adoption is specifically directed and controlled by the statutes cited in the 
rules for their authority. W.S. 9-2-1001, 9-2-1002, 9-2-1019 through 9-2-1022 
and 16-3-101 through 16-3-115.2 Yeik v. Department of Revenue and 
Taxation, 595 P.2d 965 (Wyo. 1979). In Spurlock, the decision favoring the 
employee's retention of his rights upon promotion to administrator was found in 
the statute which provided for tenure as a teacher in public education, W.S. 
21-7-102(a)(ii)(A). Here, the retained right flows directly from a statute 
equally effective as was the case in Spurlock.

[¶22]   In Spurlock, 699 P.2d  at 272, we 
said:

Appellant became tenured 
as a teacher pursuant to the provisions of the Wyoming Teacher Employment Law. 
His continued employment as a certified professional employee did not change his 
tenured position as a classroom teacher. There is nothing in the act to reflect 
that such a change should occur. Accordingly, appellee had to afford appellant 
the procedural and evidentiary standards incident to a tenured classroom teacher 
position before it could discharge appellant from such position.

[¶23]   In Doidge, I would similarly 
say:

Appellant became tenured 
as a State employee pursuant to the provisions of the Personnel Rules 
of the Executive Branch of Wyoming State Government adopted pursuant to Wyoming 
statute. His continued employment as a hospital superintendent did 
not change his tenured position as a staff psychologist. There is nothing 
in the personnel rules to reflect that such a change should occur. 
Accordingly, appellee had to afford appellant the procedural and evidentiary 
standards incident to a tenured state employee position before it could 
discharge appellant from such position.

[¶24]   I resist this decision because 
effectively we, as a court, now write new personnel rules for each and every 
public employee in the state where any rights to a hearing before discharge may 
be provided by the agency except the teachers in the public school system who 
alone have the benefit of either notice or Spurlock. Consequently, I would 
reverse and remand to require a hearing before this state employee can be 
separated from his tenured rights provided by the Wyoming state personnel 
rules.

FOOTNOTES

1 Chapter VII, Section 12 
of the Personnel Rules of the Executive Branch of Wyoming State Government 
(effective October 1985 as revised July 1986) provided:

Permanent 
Appointments. Upon satisfactory 
completion of the probationary period the appointing authority shall permanently 
appoint a probationary employee. Such appointment shall be made in writing to 
the Personnel Division and the employee and shall include a statement that the 
employee's performance has been satisfactory. Permanent appointments shall be 
made effective on the first day of the thirteenth month of continous service 
following the probationary appointment.

2 Chapter XII, Section 
3(c)(i) of the Personnel Rules of the Executive Branch of Wyoming State 
Government (effective October 1985) stated in pertinent part:

(c) 
Dismissal.

(i) Dismissal of 
Permanent Employees. If previous disciplinary action has not served to achieve 
corrective results, or if the nature and extent of the just cause is such that 
other disciplinary action is not appropriate, the agency head may dismiss a 
permanent employee for the good of the service.

(A) Prior to the 
dismissal of a permanent employee the agency head shall provide to the employee 
written notification specifying:

(I) The reason(s) and 
evidence for dismissal; and

(II) An opportunity for 
the employee within ten (10) working days to respond in writing to the 
charge(s).

The agency head shall 
have three (3) working days to consider the response. If the agency head 
perceives that the employee may endanger the peace and safety of others or pose 
a grave threat to the public interest, the agency head may suspend the employee, 
with pay, pending the dismissal review period.

(B) If after the 
dismissal review period the agency head determines dismissal is appropriate, the 
agency head shall provide, personally or by return receipt requested certified 
mail, written notification to the employee specifying:

(I) The reason(s) for the 
dismissal;

(II) The effective date 
of the dismissal; and

(III) The right to a 
hearing pursuant to Chapter XIII, Section 6, of these rules.

Chapter XIII, Section 6 
of the Personnel Rules of the Executive Branch of Wyoming State Government 
(effective October 1985) provided in pertinent part the following procedures for 
appealing dismissal decisions:

(a) Within twenty (20) 
days of receipt of a notice of dismissal, a permanent employee may file a 
petition for review with the Personnel Administrator. The petition shall include 
a brief statement of the events giving rise to the dismissal and the relief 
sought. Copies of the petition shall be sent to the employing agency and the 
Attorney General. If an employee does not petition for review within the time 
prescribed, there shall be no other or further right to appeal, and the 
dismissal shall stand.

* * * * * *

(e) 
Hearing Authority Purpose and Authority.

(i) The purpose of the 
hearing is to determine whether there exists good cause for the dismissal. 
The Hearing Authority shall decide, based upon all of the evidence produced at 
the hearing and upon no other basis, whether the allegations made in support of 
the dismissal are true and, if true, whether they fairly and reasonably 
constitute grounds for dismissal under the Personnel Rules.

(ii) The Hearing 
Authority shall affirm or reverse the dismissal and/or recommend other personnel 
actions so long as the decisions and recommendations are not in conflict with 
Personnel Rules and State Statutes.

(f) Dismissal Appeal 
Hearing.

(i) Within thirty (30) 
days of the formation of the Hearing Authority, the Hearing Authority must open 
a hearing or render a decision, without a hearing, based solely on the written 
record. Any disposition made without a hearing shall be in accordance with Rule 
56 of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure.

(A) If the issues raised 
by either or both parties are such that further proceedings are unnecessary, the 
Hearing Authority shall submit a written decision to the Personnel Administrator 
who shall forward copies to both parties.

(B) If the issues raised 
by either or both parties are such that further proceedings are necessary, the 
[H]earing [A]uthority shall initiate a hearing.

(Emphasis 
added.)

3 W.R.A.P. 12.09 states in 
pertinent part:

The review shall be 
conducted by the court without a jury and shall be confined to the record as 
supplemented pursuant to Rule 12.08, W.R.A.P., and to the issues raised before 
the agency. The court's review shall be limited to a determination of the 
matters specified in § 16-3-114(c).

4 The personnel rules for 
executive branch employees were promulgated by the Personnel Division of DAFC 
pursuant to Wyo. Stat. §§ 9-2-1001 to -1002, §§ 9-2-1019 to -1022, and §§ 
16-3-101 to -115 (1977).

 

 

FOOTNOTES for the 
Dissent

1 I also have some 
procedural questions about the process utilized for denied hearing. Another 
concern exists about a question pervading this record, that with the removal as 
superintendent, appellant properly, as a result of that removal, should also be 
pushed out of the agency so that his successor would not be subject to 
disruption of the new administration. However, I will confine consideration to 
Spurlock and lack of employee's advance notice of the risk of what has now been 
done to him.

2 For coverage, the rules 
in part provide:

Section 2. Coverage. 
These rules apply to all positions and employees in the Executive Branch, 
provided that the University of Wyoming and the positions of Governor, Secretary 
of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
and District Attorney are exempt. The Governor is exempt from Chapters II 
through VII in the appointment of agency heads.

Personnel Rules of the 
Executive Branch of Wyoming State Government, ch. 1 (July 1986).