Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/298/298mass492.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 09:00:17+00:00

Document:
MICHAEL J. HORRIGAN vs. MAYOR OF PITTSFIELD.
G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 31, Section 13, and Civil Service Rule 9 do not apply to an application for reinstatement under St. 1936, c. 287.
St. 1936, c. 287, providing for reinstatement without loss of compensation of employees of a municipality who had become separated from the classified civil service by retirement and whose retirement allowances had been discontinued because of invalidity in the retirement proceedings, was not a violation of the Constitution of this Commonwealth nor of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution even when applied to a police officer who, more than two years before the passage of the statute, was retired for inability to perform his duties fully and whose "pension" later was discontinued because the retirement was invalid.
A police officer of a city, after reinstatement by the commissioner of civil service pursuant to St. 1936, c. 287, was granted a writ of mandamus to compel the mayor of the city to recognize his restored status.
PETITION, filed in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Berkshire on January 8, 1937, for a writ of mandamus.
There was a hearing by Qua, J., who reserved and reported the case for determination by the full court.
W. A. Heaphy, for the petitioner.
C. R. Alberti, City Solicitor, for the respondent.
QUA, J. The object of this petition is to secure to the petitioner full reinstatement for active duty in the police department of the city of Pittsfield. No question of pleading has been raised by either party, and we therefore consider the case broadly in order to ascertain to what, if any, relief the petitioner is entitled upon the facts admitted by the pleadings and established by the findings of the single justice of this court before whom the case was tried. Blanchard v. Cooke, 147 Mass. 215, 222.
"Section 1. Chapter thirty-one of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section forty-six G, inserted by chapter four hundred and eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-five, the following new section: - Section 46H. Any officer or employee of a city or town who has become separated from the classified civil service by reason of his retirement under the provisions of any general or special law, if his retirement is subsequently invalidated and his retirement allowance discontinued by reason of the illegality of, or a defect in, the proceedings relative to such retirement, shall, upon application to the commissioner within one year from the last payment of said retirement allowance be reinstated by the commissioner in the same position, or in a position in the same class and grade as that formerly held by him, without loss of compensation.
the application and on August 28 notified the respondent in writing that the petitioner's reinstatement had been approved and requested that the commissioner be informed of the date when the petitioner should return to work. On August 31, the petitioner reported in person to the respondent "for reinstatement" and the respondent denied that the petitioner had been properly reinstated. Under the charter of Pittsfield the respondent is "the chief executive officer of the city," charged with the duty "to keep a general supervision over the conduct of all subordinate officers." He may suspend any officer and may suspend any work or payment for a period not exceeding seven days. St. 1932, c. 280, Section 17. See also Section 2. In his answer the respondent admits that he and the chief of the police department wrote a letter to the petitioner denying that the petitioner had been reinstated and requesting the petitioner to undergo a physical examination by the city physicians to determine whether the petitioner was incapacitated.
civil service," and has therefore lost his right to a hearing and judicial review under the civil service laws without at the same time acquiring a legal pension. As to what may constitute separation from the service see Dunn v. Commissioner of Civil Service, 279 Mass. 504; Feehan v. Chief Engineer of Fire Department of Taunton, 264 Mass. 178; Skold v. Chief of Fire Department of Cambridge, 266 Mass. 513; Fernandez v. Mayor of New Bedford, 269 Mass. 445; Goldberg v. Commissioner of Civil Service, 274 Mass. 300; Smith v. Director of Department of Public Safety of Lawrence, 290 Mass. 307; Ferrante v. Higgiston, 296 Mass. 208; G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 31, Sections 46B-46G.
Thus the purpose of the statute seems to be to protect a classified officer or employee whose retirement may prove invalid against the possibility of losing, in addition to his pension, rights under the civil service laws which may still be valuable. This purpose is accomplished by reinstating him to the classified position which he formerly held or to a position in the same class or grade. This does not mean that he acquires any permanent right to hold his office or employment irrespective of his ability to perform the work or of other causes which might justify his suspension or removal. The use in the statute of the word "reinstated" indicates that what is meant is restablishment in the former status with all the ordinary incidents of that status. Thus the employee, at once upon reinstatement, or at any time thereafter, can be suspended or removed by the officer or board having the power of suspension or removal over the classified position to which the employee has been reinstated, in the manner and for the causes prescribed and permitted by the civil service laws. Such reinstatement is more than an empty form, because it restores to the officer or employee his rights to notice, hearing, and review which he lost when he became separated from the service by an invalid retirement, and it also leaves him in a position to be retired in a legal manner, if his retirement was invalidated by reason of some merely formal defect.
the classified service by reason of his retirement; his retirement has been invalidated and his allowance discontinued; and upon application to the commissioner he has been reinstated as provided in the act. His application to the commissioner for reinstatement was not defective for failure to comply with G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 31, Section 13, or with Civil Service Rule 9, as neither the statute nor the rule applies to an application for reinstatement under the act of 1936. It follows that this case is within the statute of 1936, and if that statute, as applied to this case, is a valid exercise of legislative power, it is the duty of the respondent to recognize that the petitioner is again a member of the police force of Pittsfield and to treat him accordingly.
individual. Thus legislation granting pensions to persons formerly in the military or naval service has been sustained because of the supposed public benefit derived from making such service attractive and honorable. Opinion of the Justices, 190 Mass. 611. Opinion of the Justices, 211 Mass. 608. Rich v. Mayor of Malden, 252 Mass. 213. Gray v. Salem, 271 Mass. 495, 498. United States v. Hall, 98 U.S. 343, 346. See Moffatt v. Mayor of Lowell, 215 Mass. 92, 95. On the same general principle it has been said that the Legislature, if convinced that a public and not a purely private interest will be promoted, may authorize the payment to the widow of a deceased public officer of salary which would have accrued for a period after his decease. Opinion of the Justices, 175 Mass. 599. Opinion of the Justices, 240 Mass. 616.
to them their method of procedure. If he fails to contest his retirement (see Mayor of Somerville v. Justices of the Police Court of Somerville, 220 Mass. 393) and so becomes separated from the civil service, and if his retirement is invalidated, it may be thought that he has suffered an injustice. Recognition of a quasi moral obligation tends to inspire public confidence in the justice of the State in its dealings. That is an element to which weight may be given in determining whether the object of an enactment is the promotion of the public welfare as contrasted with the making of a private gift from public funds. New Orleans v. Clark, 95 U.S. 644, 653. These considerations apply to instances which may have occurred before the passage of the act as well as to those occurring afterward.
When it is established, as we think it is in this instance, that the purpose of the statute as a whole is within the general scope of legislative power, the objection that the act imposes upon the city as a corporate entity a new liability by statutory fiat without an equivalent return ceases to have force. Municipal corporations are both creatures of the State and instrumentalities through which the State acts. In the performance of public functions they may be required, within rational limits, to assume new liabilities without their consent and without reimbursement. In Attorney General v. Williams, 174 Mass. 476, 481, this court said that the Legislature may require any of the political subdivisions of the Commonwealth "to bear such share of the public burdens as it deems just and equitable," and again that "Very wide discretion is left with the law-making power in this particular." Although conceivably there might be instances of the unreasonable and arbitrary imposition of burdens upon selected municipalities which would be held beyond the reach of legislative discretion, the rule itself is so firmly established, as far as this Commonwealth is concerned, that it will be enough to cite some of the cases without further discussion. Agawam v. Hampden, 130 Mass. 528. Scituate v. Weymouth, 108 Mass. 128. Kingman, petitioner, 153 Mass. 566. Hodgdon v. Haverhill, 193 Mass. 406, 410. Boston, petitioner, 221 Mass. 468, 473.
Lee v. Lynn, 223 Mass. 109, 112. Chelsea v. Treasurer & Receiver General, 237 Mass. 422, 431. County of Essex v. Newburyport, 254 Mass. 232. Gray v. Salem, 271 Mass. 495, 498. Goodale v. County Commissioners, 277 Mass. 144. See also Hunter v. Pittsburgh, 207 U.S. 161, 178; Trenton v. New Jersey, 262 U.S. 182; Williams v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 289 U.S. 36.
The scheme of the instant statute whereby each municipality is required to sustain the expense of the application of the law to cases arising among its own officers or employees may in rare instances impose a substantial burden, but there have also been cases where enforcement of other tenure provisions of the civil service laws has produced similar burdens. The invalidity of a purported retirement may usually, with diligence, be discovered before the lapse of any great time, and after reinstatement the municipality may protect itself by speedy suspension and removal of the reinstated officer or employee, if he is unable to render adequate service. The plan is neither unreasonable nor arbitrary. It is not essential that there be complete equality and equity in the sharing of the burden. Duffy v. Treasurer & Receiver General, 234 Mass. 42, 52. Opinion of the Justices, 234 Mass. 612, 620. Boston v. Treasurer & Receiver General, 237 Mass. 403, 420. Chicago v. Sturges, 222 U.S. 313. The cost of mitigating that which is deemed to be a public evil may sometimes be placed even upon individual citizens in connection with whose business the evil arises. Howes Brothers Co. v. Unemployment Compensation Commission 296 Mass. 275. Danforth v. Groton Water Co. 178 Mass. 472. See Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 526-530.
raise such a question. See McGlue v. County Commissioners, 225 Mass. 59; Horton v. Attorney General, 269 Mass. 503, 513.
A peremptory writ of mandamus is to issue, commanding the respondent to recognize the petitioner as reinstated to his former office in the police force of the city of Pittsfield.

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