Opinion ID: 170045
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did the Sheriff Have Discretion?

Text: Doña Ana County’s merit system ordinance governs the process of filling the position of Records Supervisor in the Sheriff’s Department. On its face, it allows for discretion in the hiring process. Under the ordinance, selection by the interview panel confers only a “panel recommended” status to the highest scoring applicant, following which the Sheriff may choose whether or not to hire the applicant. Settled hiring practices, however, can reveal that discretion is illusory. Perry, 408 U.S. at 599-600. According to Vicki Lusk, the employee at the county’s Human Resources Department responsible for the testing and interviewing process, the County always gave jobs to the applicants with the highest numerical scores. This practice was so settled that the Sheriff, who is vested with discretion to accept or reject the recommendation of the interview panel, nevertheless provided favored applicants with the interview questions and answers in an effort to ensure they obtained the highest scores. Even in cases where scores were separated by only hundredths of a point, the Sheriff offered the job to the highest scoring applicant even if he or she was not the “favorite.” A -6- reasonable jury could infer from this evidence that the County’s settled practice was always to extend the job offer to the highest scoring applicant and that this settled practice overrides the discretionary provisions of the County’s merit system ordinance. Ms. Jones was not the highest scoring applicant for the 2001 Records Supervisor position, but she was the second highest. Her claim to a property interest in the 2001 promotion rests on the theory that the County, aware of the cheating, should have disqualified the cheater and hired her. Her claim has merit, as Doña Ana County’s policies required the disqualification of any job applicant who had access to the questions and answers.