Opinion ID: 454754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-Termination Opportunity to Respond

Text: 15 Leventhal contends that the City violated his due process rights by failing to give him an adequate opportunity to contest his termination before it went into effect. Leventhal admits that he received one day's advance notice of his termination, but argues that the City should have granted his request for additional time to respond to the notice. The ALJ held that the City could not have violated Leventhal's right to a pre-termination opportunity to respond because Leventhal had no such right. 16 We hold that, contrary to the ALJ's conclusion, constitutional due process protections did apply to Leventhal's termination. 20 C.F.R. Sec. 676.43(a)(1) required the City to treat its CETA administrative staff in conformance with the merit principles of 5 C.F.R. Part 900, Subpart F. One of these principles is that a permanent employee shall be discharged only for good cause. 5 C.F.R. Sec. 900.606-1(a). If a statute provides that a public employee can be terminated only for good cause, the employee has a constitutional due process interest in continued employment. See Hayward v. Henderson, 623 F.2d 596, 597 (9th Cir.1980) (statute requiring just cause for termination creates a due process property interest, but no such requirement exists for discharging CETA participants (in contrast to CETA administrative staff)). 20 C.F.R. Sec. 676.43(a)(1) required the City to treat its CETA administrative staff in conformance with the merit principles of 5 C.F.R. Part 900, Subpart F. One of these principles is that a permanent employee shall be discharged only for good cause. 5 C.F.R. Sec. 900.606-1(a). As a permanent employee and a CETA monitor, Leventhal would thus ordinarily have been entitled to a pre-termination hearing. See Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570 n. 7, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 2705 n. 7, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972) (except for extraordinary situations, a person deprived of a protected interest must be afforded a hearing before termination.) 17 Under the circumstances of this case, however, the City did not violate Leventhal's due process rights by denying his request for additional time to respond to the notice of termination. A pre-termination hearing is not required in emergency situations where a valid governmental interest justifies postponing the hearing until after the termination. See id. The City reasonably concluded that Leventhal's threatening remarks against his former supervisor's life constituted emergency circumstances requiring Leventhal's immediate termination. Moreover, the City did give Leventhal some advance notice and an opportunity to respond.