Opinion ID: 1814267
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: prior disciplinary violations

Text: The Department asserts that the district court erred in refusing to consider Vinci's past disciplinary violations. The district court found it was improper to consider disciplinary material that previously had been removed from Vinci's personnel file in determining the degree of discipline to be imposed. Clarke testified at the Board hearing that he relied on previous incidents already removed from Vinci's personnel record as an additional factor in reaching his decision to discipline Vinci. We agree with the district court that Clarke's reliance on Vinci's past disciplinary violations was improper. The interpretation of statutes and regulations presents questions of law, in connection with which an appellate court has an obligation to reach an independent conclusion irrespective of the decision made by the court below, according deference to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations, unless plainly erroneous or inconsistent. Southeast Rural Volunteer Fire Dept. v. Neb. Dept. of Revenue, 251 Neb. 852, 560 N.W.2d 436 (1997); Inner Harbour Hospitals v. State, 251 Neb. 793, 559 N.W.2d 487 (1997). Further, in the absence of anything to the contrary, language contained in a rule or regulation is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning. An appellate court will not resort to interpretation to ascertain the meaning of words in a rule or regulation which is plain, direct, and unambiguous. Dittrich v. Nebraska Dept. of Correctional Services, 248 Neb. 818, 539 N.W.2d 432 (1995). The State of Nebraska's personnel rules and regulations provide in part: At the request of the employee, records of disciplinary action shall be removed from the employee's personnel file after two years after the discipline was imposed. 273 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 11, § 004.03 (1993). Clarke testified that even though a document may be removed from an employee's file such that it is not available for other agencies or future employers, he has the right, as an administrator, to maintain information as to the performance of individual employees. Clarke's interpretation of the rule regarding the maintenance of personnel records is inconsistent with the rule's plain meaning. The rule clearly provides that records may be removed, but says nothing about the consideration of such records after removal. If the Department wants to consider records that have been removed from an employee's file in accordance with its own regulation, the Department should explicitly provide for such action. Therefore, the district court's decision was correct regarding Vinci's past disciplinary violations.