Court Opinion

ID: 9585208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:57:36.035259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:35:03.167040
License: Public Domain

Neely, Justice,

Concurring:

I concur in the dismissal of the appeal in this case, but respectfully disagree with the majority’s extension of certain procedural safeguards to classified civil service employees who are suspended for thirty or fewer days on charges amounting to misconduct or delinquency. The requirement that employees be notified before their suspension of the charges against them and be given the opportunity, except in situations where there is a continuing danger to persons or property or to the orderly conduct of the agency’s affairs, to respond to the employing authority in my view unreasonably fetters agency discretion in personnel matters, creates one more procedural trap for the unwary, and creates a need for *168courts to develop standards and to examine agency compliance with essentially technical matters of form. I do not see the point of imposing these burdens on agencies and wasting scarce judicial resources, when in the end all an aggrieved employee gets is the right to speak; the decision-maker need do no more than give the appearance of listening.
In the absence of statutory authority to the contrary, I cannot join in the majority’s declaration of procedural rights in this context. This is obviously a case which requires the striking of a balance between the employee’s constitutional rights and the right of the government to govern efficiently. Frequently procedures achieve nothing but the guarantee that the taxpayers will pay and pay and pay for State employees who do not work. Procedural safeguards in the case of the temporary suspension will not achieve a more just result for the employer but may well do a disservice to the State.