Opinion ID: 1288529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: retaliatory lay-off

Text: Douglas raised two issues in the grievance proceedings, the first being that his layoff amounted to a retaliatory discharge and secondly that Authority's refusal to rehire him violated the Authority's Policy and Procedures Manual. The grievance panel issued a unanimous decision holding that the Authority violated its own Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual when it failed to offer Douglas the position of Senior Engineer in lieu of permanent layoff. The Grievance Panel decreed that Douglas was entitled under the manual to be appointed as Senior Engineer; and the Panel, given its ruling that Douglas was entitled to continue in his newly-entitled position, implicitly decided that it was unnecessary to rule on Douglas' other claim, that of retaliatory dismissal. As I see it, even if the district court had been justified in refusing to uphold the Grievance Panel's decision, the district court still should have considered the retaliatory nature of Douglas' termination and should have granted judicial review on the basis of the groundless and arbitrary nature of the Authority's retaliatory termination of an employee who claimed that he was refused employment solely because he had reported financial wrongdoing on the part of agents of the Authority. The trial court declined to consider the arbitrary and retaliatory nature of Douglas' termination just because this issue was not addressed by the Board of Trustees' decision, and thus, [was] not an issue properly before this Court at this time. (In other words, because the trustees declined to deal with these unpleasant matters, the court would not consider them either.) The majority mentions that Douglas has a tort action based on retaliatory discharge pending in the federal court. I cannot imagine what this fact has to do with the present action. In the present state action, Douglas is merely maintaining that White's refusal to appoint him as Senior Engineer was improperly motivated and based on White's fear of Douglas as a whistle-blower. If this allegation is true, it reveals a startling abuse of official power by White and by the Authority Board of Trustees. If Douglas' claim is valid, then he has been the victim of intolerable oppression and was certainly entitled to be appointed as Senior Engineer. For the public benefit as well as Douglas' benefit this matter should be thoroughly litigated in the trial court. The other dissenting justice, JUSTICE SHEARING, appears to see this point quite clearly. The trial court has refused to hear Douglas' retaliation claim, namely, that the elimination of his job was in retaliation of [his] coming forward and offering information concerning improprieties (inappropriate use of state and federal funds) engaged in by Airport Authority officials. In his brief, Douglas argues that the decisions of White and the Authority Board were arbitrary and capricious and in violation of his rights to due process of law. If Douglas has been deprived of his livelihood in the manner that he claims, then the Airport Authority was acting [i]n violation of constitutional [and] statutory provisions and in excess of the statutory authority of the agency. NRS 223.135(3)(a), (b) and (f). If what Douglas claims is true, he is entitled to reinstatement independent of the order of reinstatement given to him by the Grievance Panel. It is sad indeed that no one will hear his plaint. The trial court dismissed the retaliatory lay-off claim because it was not addressed in the Board of Trustees' decision. The trial court is correct that the Board of Trustees did not deal directly with the question of whether the Board had allowed the Airport Authority to be reorganized just to replace three whistle-blowers. If I had been on the Authority Board, I suspect that I too would have been reluctant to deal with this very troublesome question; but I would not have expected to have been able to frustrate all judicial review of these charges simply by my refusing to consider them at the Board level. I can understand how the trial court might not want to deal, in an administrative review, with contested matters of fact and with the collateral, de novo nature of Douglas' attack on the power of the Airport Authority to refuse to continue his employment for reasons of revenge and retaliation. This matter is, after all, a petition for judicial review, the statutory analogue of the common law writ of certiorari; and ordinarily matters dehors the record will not be entertained in such proceedings. But, we should ask ourselves, should this adjective consideration prevent Douglas from having any judicial inquiry into what he sees as the true reason for his losing his job? Where else can Douglas turn to redress his right not to lose his job simply because he tried to do the right thing? In the case of State v. Lundgren Pacific Const. Co., Inc., 603 P.2d 889 (Wash. 1979), a highway contractor filed suit against the Department of Highways following a contractual dispute proceeding. The contractor sought judicial relief on the ground that it had been denied due process. The trial court refused to hear the de novo due process claim. The Supreme Court of Washington remanded to the trial court, ruling that [i]f upon remand the trial court finds that the procedures of the Department of Highways failed to conform to the requirements of due process, either by their very nature or the manner in which these particular claims were handled, it will be necessary to furnish Lundgren with a fair hearing. Id. at 896. I say that it is necessary, as in Lundgren, to furnish Douglas with a fair hearing on his due process claims. So far, he has had no one who will listen to the claimed atrocities that he insists caused him to be deprived of his livelihood. I would reverse the summary judgment and remand this case to the trial court for a trial de novo on Douglas' claim that he lost his job solely because he was seen by his superiors as a whistle-blower. To do less than this is injustice in the extreme. There are, as stated, two grounds for reversing the denial of Douglas' claims that he has been improperly denied employment. I would reverse on both grounds.