Opinion ID: 2974743
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Young’s due process claims

Text: Although the district court erred when it found that res judicata precluded Young’s procedural due process claim, summary judgment was still appropriate because Young was afforded all of the process that he was due. See Christophel v. Kukulinsky, 61 F.3d 479, 485 (6th Cir. 1995) (“[T]he deprivation of property by state action is not itself unconstitutional; what is unconstitutional is the deprivation of such an interest without due process of law.”) (quotation marks omitted) (emphasis in original). The VPA provides that a veteran is entitled to written notice stating the No. 05-2633 Young v. Green Oak Township Page 9 cause or causes of removal, transfer, or suspension at least 15 days prior to the hearing. Mich. Comp. Laws § 35.402. A review of the record indicates that the Board did not violate Young’s due process rights under the VPA. In accordance with the statute’s requirements, the Board provided written notice of the hearing and stated that the Board would consider whether or not [Young] should be removed (terminated) as an employee of the Green Oak Township Police Department on the basis that [Young was] unable to perform the essential functions of a Green Oak Township Police Officer, with or without an accommodation, and that the conditions upon which [Young had] requested to return to work . . . would pose an undue hardship on the Green Oak Township Police Department. This notice came in a letter dated June 4, 2002, and the hearing was scheduled for June 19, 2002. Young made no claim that this sequence violated the 15-day notice requirement of the VPA. He was, moreover, permitted to have an attorney represent him at the hearing, to present evidence, to review hearing transcripts, and to submit a posthearing brief to the Board. The VPA further requires that “removal, suspension or transfer shall be made only upon written order of . . . the township board.” Mich. Comp. Laws § 35.402. Young was terminated in accordance with the statute. In its decision, the Board found that Young had a “continuing physical problem of a degenerative nature,” but was no longer disabled as a result of a work-related injury. The Board further concluded that “[i]t is the opinion of the Green Oak Township Board that . . . Mr. Young is physically incompetent to return to full time police duties with the Township.” Accordingly, the Board adopted the recommendation of Chief Brookins that Young’s employment be terminated. Young was thus afforded all of the process that he was due under the VPA. So even though the district court erred in finding that Young’s procedural due process claim under § 1983 was barred by res judicata, summary judgment for the Township was appropriate on the merits. 2. The Township did not violate Young’s right to substantive due process Young also raises a substantive due process argument, although he does not identify it as such. The VPA takes veterans out of an at-will employment regime and provides them with a property interest in their continued employment, which can be altered only by a pretermination hearing and a finding of “just cause” as specified by statute: No veteran . . . shall be removed or suspended, or shall, without his consent, be transferred from such office or employment except for official misconduct, habitual, serious or willful neglect in the performance of duty, extortion, conviction of intoxication, conviction of felony, or incompetency . . . except after a full hearing . . . before the township board. Id. Young alleges that the Township discriminated against him by terminating him for a reason not permitted under the VPA. The substantive component of the Due Process Clause protects those rights that are “fundamental,” meaning those rights that are “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,” Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 325 (1937), overruled on other grounds by Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784 (1969). This court has “recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment has a substantive due process component that protects specific fundamental rights of individual freedom and liberty from deprivation at the hands of arbitrary and capricious government action.” Sutton v. Cleveland Bd. of Educ., 958 F.2d 1339, 1350 (6th Cir. 1992) (quotation marks and citation omitted). “Absent the infringement of some ‘fundamental’ right,” however, this court has held that “the termination of No. 05-2633 Young v. Green Oak Township Page 10 public employment does not constitute a denial of substantive due process.” Id. at 1351. As the Eleventh Circuit has stated: [A]reas in which substantive rights are created only by state law (as is the case with tort law and employment law) are not subject to substantive due process protection under the Due Process Clause because “substantive due process rights are created only by the Constitution.” As a result, these state law based rights constitutionally may be rescinded so long as the elements of procedural—not substantive—due process are observed. McKinney v. Pate, 20 F.3d 1550, 1556 (11th Cir. 1994) (quoting Regents of Univ. of Mich. v. Ewing, 474 U.S. 214, 229 (1985) (Powell, J., concurring)); see also Valot v. Southeast Local Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 107 F.3d 1220, 1233 (6th Cir. 1997) (relying on Ewing in finding that public employees do not have a “fundamental” right to unemployment compensation). To the extent that a substantive due process claim is available, Young must demonstrate that the Township’s decision to terminate his employment had no rational basis. See, e.g., Thompson v. Ashe, 250 F.3d 399, 407 (6th Cir. 2001) (reviewing a no-trespass policy, which “does not implicate any fundamental right, . . . under the rational basis standard”). The Township Clerk notified Young that the Board would be conducting a hearing to consider his termination “on the basis that [Young was] unable to perform the essential functions of a Green Oak Township Police Officer with or without an accommodation.” A challenge to Young’s possible “incompetency” under the VPA was thus clearly raised. The Board held a VPA hearing over two days in July and August of 2002. It heard testimony from Chief Brookins and from a sergeant within the Police Department. The Board further considered documentary evidence, including the state administrative decision that Young “no longer suffer[ed] a work related disability and that any problems he currently suffers are the result of a degenerative condition,” and reviewed posthearing briefs submitted by both parties. In its written decision, the Board adopted Chief Brookins’s recommendation to terminate Young’s employment. It noted that “the issue of competency to the position of police officer was of main concern to the Township Board.” Both the testimonial and documentary evidence demonstrated that “physical competency is a mandatory component of functioning as a certified police officer.” The Board then found that, [b]ased on the statements made by Mr. Young himself in his request to be returned to employment with limited duties and considering the findings of the Workers’ Compensation Bureau in recognizing a continuing physical problem of a degenerative nature, there is little doubt that Mr. Young’s present physical situation would prevent him from returning to active duty as a Green Oak Township police officer with fully physical capacity. . . . It is the opinion of the Green Oak Township Board that based upon testimony presented, Mr. Young is physically incompetent to return to full time police duties with the Township. Young argues that “incompetency” under the VPA does not include a physical disability such as his. Although no Michigan court has construed the term“incompetency” under the VPA, the Township points to a Minnesota Supreme Court case that concluded that the term as used in veterans preference statutes encompasses both physical and mental competency. Myers v. City of Oakdale, 409 N.W.2d 848 (Minn. 1987). The Myers plaintiff was a police officer who suffered a work-related back injury. After the officer was placed on indefinite medical leave, he sought a writ of mandamus to compel his employer to provide him with a hearing under the Minnesota Veterans Preference Act. Id. at 849. That Act, which is substantially similar to Michigan’s VPA, prohibits the removal of an No. 05-2633 Young v. Green Oak Township Page 11 employee-veteran “except for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing.” Id. at 850. The Myers court surveyed decisions from the courts of other states that had construed the term “incompetency” in similar circumstances. Id. at 851-52. From this review, the Myers court determined that “‘incompetency’ is to be construed according to its common and approved usage, which includes want of physical fitness.” Id. at 852; see also Tafoya v. New Mexico State Police Bd., 472 P.2d 973, 977 (N.M. 1970) (referring to Webster’s Third International Dictionary’s definition of “incompetence” as including a “lack of physical, intellectual, or moral ability”); Collins v. Iowa Liquor Control Comm’n, 110 N.W.2d 548, 550 (Iowa 1961) (same); Horosko v. Sch. Dist. of Mt. Pleasant Twp., 6 A.2d 866, 869-70 (Pa. 1939) (reviewing the definition of “incompetency” in both general purpose and law dictionaries and finding the lack of physical ability to be included in all of them). We find the reasoning in Myers convincing and are persuaded that the Michigan Supreme Court would likewise conclude that the term “incompetency” as used in the VPA encompasses an employee’s physical inability to perform the essential functions of his or her job. Young has not identified any caselaw that conflicts with this interpretation. The Township presented evidence at the VPA hearing that Young was not physically capable of performing all of the functions of a Township police officer. Young did not attempt to counter that evidence, nor did he object to the Board’s consideration of the Workers’ Compensation Bureau decision that he was no longer suffering a work-related disability. The Township also introduced evidence that its police officers are required to comply with statewide certification requirements. These requirements include certain physical components, such as the ability to forcibly effect an arrest, to climb or jump over obstacles and uneven surfaces, to lift or drag people and objects, and to pursue fleeing suspects on foot in unfamiliar terrain. Sufficient evidence was presented at the VPA hearing about Young’s back problems and requests for accommodation to provide a rational connection between the Township’s need for police officers who can fulfill all of the functions of their employment and the Board’s determination that Young was physically incompetent to do so. See Thompson, 250 F.3d at 407. We thus conclude that Young’s substantive due process claim lacks merit. Because the Board did not violate Young’s due process rights when it terminated him, Young’s § 1983 claims also fail on the merits. See, e.g., Ewolski v. City of Brunswick, 287 F.3d 492, 516 (6th Cir. 2002) (finding that a municipality was not liable for the harm to the victims of an armed hostage-taker where the plaintiff could not show that there had been any constitutional violation). We therefore affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Township on Young’s due process claims.