Opinion ID: 1127593
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Back-Pay Award

Text: The hearing officer awarded Barraza back pay from the date of her termination to the date of the post-termination hearing. [3] The superior court extended the back pay award to the date the hearing officer issued his interim decision. [4] NSB argues that the superior court erred in extending the award beyond the date of the hearing. Barraza, in her cross-appeal, argues that the award should have been extended to October 8, the date the hearing officer issued findings of fact and conclusions of law. We have held that when a constitutionally unlawful dismissal is cured by a post-termination hearing, the appropriate relief is back pay up to the time of the curative hearing. See Storrs v. Municipality of Anchorage, 721 P.2d 1146, 1151 (Alaska 1986); Kenai Peninsula Borough Bd. of Educ. v. Brown, 691 P.2d 1034, 1039 (Alaska 1984). In cases where this rule has been applied, a decision regarding the propriety of the employee's termination was made at the time of the post-termination hearing. See, e.g., Brown, 691 P.2d at 1036. In the present case, however, the hearing officer did not issue a decision until four months after the hearing. In an effort to harmonize our precedent with the facts of this case, the superior court concluded that [u]ntil there is some announcement of what the decision is, the hearing is not over and back pay must continue. We agree with this reasoning. Until the hearing officer issued a decision, Barraza could not know whether she would be reinstated, or whether she should look for alternative employment. Thus, the damages flowing from the deprivation of her due process right to a pre-termination adversarial hearing did not cease until the decision was issued. After the decision was issued, Barraza could be fairly certain that she had lost, and that she should look for alternative employment. Although formal findings and conclusions were to be prepared and forwarded to the parties at a later date, the hearing officer left little doubt as to the finality of his decision. He wrote in the June 21, 1990 decision: Any party may appeal this decision to the superior court in accordance with North Slope Borough ordinances, state statutes, and court rules. Although Barraza was entitled to a detailed statement of findings and reasons supporting the decision, the delay of four months between the decision and the issuance of the findings was not so unreasonable as to create an independent due process violation. The superior court properly awarded back pay to the date of the interim decision. [5]