Court Opinion

ID: 9718480
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:25:16.901368+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:59:11.654725
License: Public Domain

White, C. Thomas, J.,
dissenting.
I do not quarrel with the majority opinion in its recitation of the standard of review in administrative hearings on petition in error in this court. The majority correctly cites the applicable standard. The basis of the termination of plaintiff in the notification given to him by the City of Omaha was the letter of Dr. Iwersen. The effectiveness of this letter as a ground for a termination is certainly modified, if not destroyed, by the further letter of Dr. Iwersen of December 27, 1976: “* * * I feel that this patient is probably capable of returning to his regular job and suggested that he wear this support when he does his regular work.”
However, the decision to terminate was not in fact based solely on Dr. Iwersen’s first letter. The testimony of James R. Belina, sewer maintenance engineer for the City of Omaha, is illustrative of this point. “Q. Was your recommendation that he be terminated on the basis of the report of Dr. Iwerson of November 12th? A. Partly. What we did was to do his total record along with the letter received from Dr. Iwersen.” It is apparent that the personnel board had before it the total record of the employee’s injuries, absences, and medical history.
*404The record was referred to by members of the personnel board in their questioning of the plaintiff, was used as justification for his ultimate discharge, but that previous record was never specified as a reason for discharge in the original discharge letter, nor ever offered or received in evidence. We are thus placed in the position where the majority proposes to affirm a decision based on evidence which was never offered or received.
This court’s high regard for the findings of administrative agencies, when they are based on some competent evidence, does not require us to affirm the decision of an agency which is at least in part, and to an unknown part, based on evidence which has not been offered or received, yet considered by it, and unavailable for review in this court.
In a case cited by the majority, Shepherd v. City of Omaha, 194 Neb. 813, 235 N. W. 2d 873, we reversed a decision of the District Court affirming a city personnel board’s discharging of a policeman for falsifying an employment application. The evidence showed the policeman Shepherd did falsify a report concerning a back injury 2 years after he had been employed, but there was no evidence to substantiate a false employment application, the ground for discharge stated in the dismissal letter. This court said: “The city attempted to show this solely by evidence as to the recurrence of the back trouble 2 years after Shepherd entered its employ. * * *
“While grounds may have existed for Shepherd’s discharge, the reason given by the city was not one of them.’’
The reason listed in the termination letter was not established by competent evidence and other evidence used to justify the termination is not properly before us. The judgment of the District Court should be reversed.
McCown and Clinton, JJ., join in this dissent.