POLICY AND PROCEDURE
POLICY NUMBER: 220-505
POLICY TITLE: PERSONNEL REVIEW BOARD
EFFECTIVE DATE: ____________ REVISION DATE: _____________________
APPROVED BY: ______________________________________
CITY MANAGER
Confirmed by Council of The Columbus Consolidated Government, Ordinance No.
_______ dated the ____ day of ___________, 2014.
________________________________
STATEMENT OF POLICY:
To assure due process for Merit System personnel of the Columbus Consolidated
Government, and the employees of elected county officers and employees of other
commissions, boards, or bodies of the county when said county officers or
commissions or boards or bodies make written application for the inclusion of
their employees in the merit system of the Columbus Consolidated Government,
the Personnel Review Board, in accordance with its duties set forth in
Paragraph (1) of Section 4-610 of the Columbus Charter, shall hear appeals
from Merit System employees from significant disciplinary actions, as specified
herein; and perform such other functions and duties as may be required by
ordinance.
SCOPE:
This policy applies to all personnel within the merit service of the Columbus
Consolidated Government. Employees of elected officials, who have not been
placed in the Merit System, may not be included.
RESPONSIBILITY:
The Human Resources Director shall receive appeals; determine eligibility for
Personnel Review Board appeal; and coordinate the Personnel Review Board
appeals hearing process.
The Personnel Review Board shall hear employee appeals submitted by the Human
Resources Director and render a fair and impartial judgment thereon either
completely affirming or completely reversing the official action appealed. The
adverse actions appealed to the Personnel Review Board shall be affirmed by the
Board unless they are found by the Board to constitute an abuse of discretion.
An ?abuse of discretion? does not amount to the second-guessing of the decision
by an administrator. It occurs only when the administrator or other
decision-maker has, in making the decision, either: (1) failed to take into
proper consideration the facts or logic relating to the particular decision; or
(2) arbitrarily or unreasonably departed from clearly stated employment or
other applicable policies and procedures promulgated by the City and/or its
Department of Human Resources.
BOARD COMPOSITION:
The Personnel Review Board shall consist of five (5) regular members and five
(5) alternate members. Each alternate member shall be designated as the
alternate for a particular regular member. In the absence of any regular
member, or in a proceeding where the regular member is recused for a conflict
of interest, the alternate so designated for his/her place shall sit as a
substitute for said absent regular member and shall be empowered to act as a
regular member until such time as the proceedings begun in the absence of the
regular member or necessitating the recusal are concluded. Three members shall
constitute a quorum of the Board. However, if there are not three votes in
favor of a disposition of the appeal, then the original personnel action as
approved or modified by the Human Resources Director shall stand.
Board Members are appointed for a three (3) year term or to fill the unexpired
terms of members terminating before their term expires. No regular member may
serve more than two consecutive terms. No person will be appointed to serve on
the board who has been employed in another capacity in the Consolidated
Government for a period of one year immediately prior to appointment. Any
member of Council may nominate potential members or alternates who shall be
individuals with significant knowledge and experience in the area of employee
relations. The Council of Columbus, Georgia, will appoint all members and fill
vacancies on the board as they occur in accordance with the provisions of this
ordinance.
PROCEDURE:
1. Regularly scheduled meetings of the Personnel Review Board will be set for
the third Wednesday of each month; provided however, regularly scheduled
meetings may be canceled and special meetings may be added to accommodate the
case load pending before the Board and the availability of participants. Either
the Department bringing the disciplinary charges or the appealing employee may
request one continuance of the appeal. No further continuances shall be granted
absent a determination of the Human Resources Director that extraordinary
circumstances of one of the parties or the lack of a quorum of the Board to
hear the case warrants further continuance.
2. Any non-probationary Merit System employee may appeal to the Personnel
Review Board, any official action of any official of the Columbus Consolidated
Government involving demotion, suspension of more than one (1) day, or
termination, after all Fair Treatment Policy or City Safety Review Board
remedies have been exhausted, by delivering that appeal, in writing, to the
Human Resources Director. This action must take place within ten (10) calendar
days of notification of the Fair Treatment review process final determination
or the City Safety Review Board final determination.
3. The Human Resources Director shall schedule a Personnel Review Board hearing
on the next available regular hearing date. Employees whose employment has
been terminated shall receive preference in scheduling.
4. (a) At a Personnel Review Board hearing, technical rules of evidence shall
not apply however, informal rules of decorum will be preserved to promote
fairness and truth finding. All testimony shall be under oath. The appealing
employee and the official whose actions are being appealed, including their
representatives or attorneys, shall limit their presentation to thirty minutes
unless the time limit is extended by majority vote of the sitting Board. The
Mayor or City Manager may address the Board during any appeal proceeding. The
members of the Board voting on a particular matter may retire to deliberate in
private, but they will vote in public session. Within five (5) days, the
Board will supply a written decision stating the grounds for its decision. The
decision of the majority of the members of the Board shall be final, except as
provided in subparagraph (b).
(b) If a decision of the Personnel Review Board overrules an official action,
such decision may be appealed by the Mayor or the City Manager in the following
manner. The Mayor or the City Manager may appeal such decision by filing a
petition for writ of certiorari to the Superior Court of Muscogee County within
thirty (30) days of the decision of the Personnel Review Board. Such petition
shall be filed pursuant to O.C.G.A. Section 5-4-1 et seq. and shall be heard by
the Superior Court during the first full term of the Superior Court following
the filing of such petition.
5. The employee, upon his/her request to the Human Resources Director,
shall be given assistance in writing the appeal and/or in presenting the appeal
to the Personnel Review Board.
LEGAL REPRESENTATION
In all disciplinary actions appealed to the Personnel Review Board where the
employee being disciplined is represented by an attorney, the department
bringing disciplinary charges shall, upon request, be represented by the City
Attorney or his or her designee before the Board or in any court on appeal from
the decision of the Board. The employee shall be required to give five (5)
days advance written notice to the Human Resources Director of his/her
intention to be represented by legal counsel.
PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES:
In all disciplinary actions appealed to the Personnel Review Board where the
employee being disciplined is represented by an attorney and when said employee
prevails and the board sets aside the disciplinary action and also makes a
specific finding of fact that the disciplinary action was not taken in good
faith, application may be made to the Human Resources Director for payment of
attorney?s fees not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300.00), when the Human
Resources Director receives a proper bill from the attorney establishing that
services were rendered and expenses were incurred, payment shall be made to the
employee and to this attorney from appropriate funds established by the City
Manager which he may charge to the account of the department by which the
employee is employed. No member of the Columbus Council who is also an
attorney may represent a city employee before the Personnel Review Board and
receive compensation for the same.
Personnel Review Board 220-505
Attachment A
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