The Director of Public Safety shall have exclusive right to demote, suspend or remove any officer in charge of a Department within the Office of Public Safety and any employee within said Department except that the Chief of the Department of Fire and the Chief of the Department of Police shall have exclusive right to suspend any employee within their respective Departments.
The grounds for demotion, suspension or dismissal by the Director of Public Safety or for suspension by the Chief of the Department of Police or the Chief of the Department of Fire shall be incompetence, gross neglect of duty, gross immorality, habitual drunkenness, failure to obey orders given them by the proper authority, or for any other reasonable or good cause.
If any employee is suspended by the Chief of the Department of Police or the Chief of the Department of Fire from within their Departments, then the Chief of the Department of Police or the Chief of the Department of Fire, as the case may be, shall forthwith certify such fact in writing, together with the cause for such suspension, to the Director of Public Safety, who, within five (5) days from the receipt thereof, shall proceed to inquire into the cause of such suspension and render judgement thereon. Such judgement, if the charge is sustained, may be suspension, reduction in rank, or dismissal from the department.
In all cases of removal, demotion or suspension, the Director of Public Safety shall furnish such employee with a copy of the order of removal, demotion or suspension, together with an explanation of the employee's right of appeal. Such order with the explanation shall be filed with the Civil Service Commission. Any such employee so removed, demoted or suspended may appeal from the order of the Director of Public Safety to the Civil Service Commission within ten (10) days after the date of such suspension, demotion or removal, in which event, the Commission shall forthwith notify the Director of Public Safety and shall hear such appeal within thirty (30) days from and after its filing with the Commission, and it may affirm, disaffirm, or modify the judgement of the Director of Public Safety. The employee or officer so suspended, demoted or removed may appeal on questions of law and fact from the decision of the Civil Service Commission to the Court of Common Pleas. Such appeal shall be taken within ten (10) days from the finding of the Commission.
(Amended November 6, 2001)