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Charter reference:
Council to provide for establishment, etc., of merit system governing personnel policies, see Ch. XXIII, § 1
Cross-reference:
Office of city traffic engineer created, see § 22-2
Retired employees’ group death benefit fund, see §§ 2.5-226
Editor’s note:
Section 2 of Ord. 11921, adopted April 18, 1995, repealed Ch. 2, Art. V, §§ 2-176 through 2-189, which pertained to personnel and derived from Ord. 8486, § 1, adopted December 15, 1981 and Ord. 8923, § 1, adopted September 20, 1983. Section 2 of Ord. 11921 added a new Art. V to read as herein set out.
The city council shall establish a system of human resource management based upon merit principles that meet the program needs of the city. This merit system shall provide the means to recruit, select, develop and maintain an effective and responsive work force and shall include policies and procedures for employee hiring and advancement, training and career development, job classification, salary administration, employment benefits, discipline, discharge and other related employment activities.
(Ord. 11921, § 2 (3), passed 4-18-1995)
(a) Recruitment shall be from qualified individuals from all appropriate sources and, after fair and open competition. Selection shall be on the basis of job-related ability, knowledge and skills.
(b) All persons applying for employment and all employees shall receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of human resource management without regard to race, color, religion, national original, sex, marital status, age, disability or political affiliation and with proper regard for their privacy and their constitutional rights.
(c) Employee advancement shall be based on demonstrated ability and quality of performance.
(d) Equitable compensation shall be provided for equivalent work, and incentives may be provided for excellence in performance.
(e) Employees shall be retained on the basis of their performance; training and development opportunities may be provided; inadequate performance shall be corrected; employees shall be dismissed who cannot or will not improve their performance to meet established standards.
(f) High standards of integrity and conduct shall be established which shall be maintained by all employees.
(g) Employees shall be prohibited from using their official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of a nomination for public office or an election. Employees shall be protected from coercion for political purposes.
(Ord. 11921, § 2 (4), passed 4-18-1995)
This article shall apply to all officers and employees of the city and shall apply to all such positions in the city service now existing or hereafter established, except as provided below.
(a) The mayor, members of the city council and members of appointive boards shall be exempt from the provisions of this article.
(b) The following positions shall be exempt from the dismissal, suspension and demotion section of this article:
(1) The city manager and the assistant city managers.
(2) The heads of departments, assistant heads of department, and division heads;
(3) The judges of the municipal court system;
(4) The city internal auditor;
(5) The city secretary;
(6) Persons temporarily appointed to the city service;
(7) Employees in their initial probationary period;
(8) The city attorney and all deputy and assistance city attorneys in the department of law;
(9) Aides to the city council members/district directors.
(c) Employees of the police department and fire department who are subject to the provisions of the Fire and Police Civil Service Law (Tex. Local Government Code Chapter 143) are exempt from the section on dismissal, suspension and demotion, and the section on political activities.
(d) The city manager’s secretary shall be subject to the dismissal, suspension and demotion section of this article, save and except that, in the event of an appeal by the city manager’s secretary of a disciplinary action, all findings and recommendations of the disciplinary appeals board of its designated hearing officer shall be made to the appropriate committee of the city council for final decision rather than to the city manager.
(Ord. 11921, § 2 (5), passed 4-18-1995; Ord. 25226-12-2021, § 1, passed 12-14-2021)
(a) The director of a city department, or that individual’s designee, may, for any cause specified in the Personnel Rules and Regulations concerning disciplinary action, take any of the following adverse employment actions against an employee:
(1) Dismissal;
(2) Suspension for more than ten business days; or
(3) Demotion in rank or position.
(b) Any adverse employment action taken under subsection (a) above against an employee who is covered by this article shall be subject to the right of appeal given to such employee under this article and under the relevant City of Fort Worth Personnel Rules and Regulations.
(Ord. 11921, § 2 (6), passed 4-18-1995; Ord. 21197-04-2014, § 1, passed 4-15-2014, eff. 4-22-2014)
(a) An appeal from an adverse employment action under § 2-181(a) must comply with the requirements of this section and of the relevant provisions of the City of Fort Worth Personnel Rules and Regulations.
(b) Timely filing of all requests for review and notices of appeal required under the Personnel Rules and Regulations shall serve as conditions precedent to jurisdiction over the appeal. If an employee fails to timely file any request for review or notice of appeal, the appeal shall be automatically dismissed by the human resources department, the appeal process shall be immediately terminated, and any further appeal rights shall be forfeited.
(c) If all jurisdictional requirements of subsection (b) above and all other requirements under the Personnel Rules and Regulations for an employee to have an appeal hearing have been met, the human resources department shall assign a hearing officer selected in accordance with § 2-183.
(d) The hearing officer shall conduct the hearing in accordance with the procedures described in the Personnel Rules and Regulations.
(e) If an employee has been given proper notice of the date, time and location of an appeal hearing and fails to appear, the hearing officer may dismiss the appeal on motion of the city or the hearing officer’s own motion. For purposes of this provision notice shall be considered to be proper if it contains accurate information, is correctly addressed to the mailing address that the employee (or his or her legal representative) most recently provided to the human resources department, and is sent by first class United States mail or common or contract carrier with postage or handling charges prepaid.
(f) After an appeal hearing has concluded, the hearing officer shall prepare findings of fact and recommendations for disposition, which shall be considered by the city manager. All such findings and recommendations must comply with the requirements of this section.
(g) A hearing officer’s findings and recommendations shall be based solely on the facts placed in evidence during the appeal hearing.
(h) A hearing officer’s findings of fact shall be limited to a determination of whether it has been established by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts that form the basis for the discipline occurred.
(i) If the hearing officer determines that the facts did occur, the hearing officer shall, based on the evidence presented, recommend either that the disciplinary action be upheld or, if applicable, be reduced to one of the following actions: suspension, demotion, probation, written warning or oral warning. If the hearing officer determines that the facts did not occur as alleged, the hearing officer shall, based on the evidence presented, make recommendations as to an appropriate course of action, which shall be limited to reinstatement with or without back pay and benefits.
(j) In determining the amount of back pay and benefits to recommend, if any, the hearing officer shall take into account an employee’s duty to mitigate and shall consider the monetary value of any pay and/or benefits that the employee actually earned or reasonably could have earned during the disciplinary period.
(k) No punitive damages, attorney’s fees or other relief shall be available to the employee, and a hearing officer may not recommend any remedy unless it is explicitly provided for under subsection (i) above.
(l) The hearing officer shall, in accordance with the procedures and deadlines outlined in the Personnel Rules and Regulations, forward his or her findings and recommendations to the Human Resources Department for presentation to the city manager.
(m) A hearing officer’s findings and recommendations are not binding on the city manager. The city manager has the final authority to accept, modify or reject any of the hearing officer’s findings or recommendations and to take such action as the city manager determines is in the best interest of the city.
(n) This section applies to an employee’s exercise of the rights afforded under this article. To the extent any law outside of this article or of the city code provides an employee with different or additional rights and/or establishes different requirements or deadlines, that other law shall govern the disposition of claims made under it.
(Ord. 21197-04-2014, § 3, passed 4-15-2014, eff. 4-25-2014)
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