Court Opinion

ID: 9749399
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:41:37.040996+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:35.445757
License: Public Domain

BARBIERI, Senior Judge,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I must dissent.
Pursuant to Section 905.1 of the Civil Service Act (Act),1 a public employer shall not discriminate with respect to any personnel action against a person in the classified service on the basis of non-merit factors. A person, who is aggrieved by an alleged violation of this section, may, under Section 951(b) of the Act, 71 P.S. § 741.951(b), appeal the violation to the Civil Service Commission (Commission), which must hold a hearing on the matter. At this hearing, the only issue before the Commission is whether the employer discriminated against the employee, as alleged. Sauers v. Department of Public Welfare, 76 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 504, 464 A.2d 635 (1983).
Unlike the majority, I believe that, for purposes of Section 905.1 of the Act, the written reprimand issued to each of these petitioners constituted a personnel action. In each petitioner’s written reprimand, the Secretary of Aging, Linda M. Rhodes, stated that the reprimand was being issued to inform each petitioner that his conduct was inappropriate. The Secretary further stated that she was justified in issuing the reprimands because the conduct of each petitioner evidenced a lack of judgment for an official in his position. From this language, it is apparent that the reprimands were based upon each petitioner’s ability to perform *388his duties and carry out his responsibilities competently. As such, in my opinion, they are analogous to performance evaluations which, according to Section 105.2 of the Commission’s regulations, 4 Pa.Code § 105.2, are considered personnel actions.
As additional support for my opinion, I emphasize the warning given by the Secretary to each petitioner in his letter of reprimand that if his behavior continued, she would take further disciplinary action which could result eventually in termination of his employment. In other words, as with negative performance evaluations, further, more severe, disciplinary action could be taken against either petitioner based on his reprimand. To that extent, the written reprimands issued in these cases may prove job threatening in that if they are allowed to stand, even though they may have been discriminatorily issued in contravention of the Act, they could provide the Department of Aging (DOA) with a foundation for the termination of either petitioner’s employment. With that in mind, I would label these written reprimands as very serious personnel actions.
Another reason why I believe that, for purposes of Section 905.1 of the Act, the written reprimands issued in these cases constitute appealable personnel actions, is because, here, petitioners are not appealing the merits of their reprimands. Instead, they are requesting the Commission to review the issuance of the reprimands on the basis that they were discriminatorily issued. The fact that petitioners merely seek hearings on their allegations of discrimination and not on the content of their reprimands leads me to tip the balance, as described in the majority opinion, in favor of petitioners.
Finally, contrary to the majority, I do not think that managerial discretion can be impaired in any way by allowing the instant appeals inasmuch as managerial discretion most assuredly is not intended to embrace or shield discrimination in any form, including, of course, alleged discriminatorily issued written reprimands. In short, public employers should not be allowed to hide behind the concept of *389“managerial discretion” when discrimination is alleged as a means of tipping the scale of justice in their favor.

. Act of August 5, 1941, P.L. 752, as amended, added by Section 25 of the Act of August 27, 1963, P.L. 1257, 71 P.S. § 741.905a.