Court Opinion

ID: 9710380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:08:30.075464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:56.381582
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE PERLIN, dissenting: I respectfully dissent from the opinion of my colleagues because I believe the dismissal ordered by the Commission in this instance constitutes an abuse of discretion. It is true that a public employee does not have a constitutional right to public employment; however, such employee cannot be barred or removed from that employment arbitrarily or in disregard of his or her constitutional rights. (Dendor v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners (1st Dist. 1973), 11 Ill. App. 3d 582, 588-89, 297 N.E.2d 316.) Although it would be impractical entirely to deprive the Commission of the power to exercise discretion in solving disciplinary problems and of the ability to impose a particular sanction depending upon the severity of the violation, we should not permit the unbridled application of discretion to foster the potential of discrimination. I cannot agree with the rationale of the Commission in its attempt to justify the selective dismissal on the basis that the Department could not function if all of the guilty persons were to be equally punished. To select for dismissal a few of approximately 300 employees who had engaged in the same joint action, while retaining the others, subverts the concept of “equal justice under the law” and could give rise to adverse social effects. I do not believe that discrimination should be encouraged in the guise of an exercise of discretion. Therefore, I would reverse the decision of the . Commission.