The City Attorney’s Office shall be subject to the following:
(a) No person shall be removed, suspended or reduced in grade without good cause who has served continuously as an attorney in the Office of the City Attorney for two years or more immediately preceding the action, or who has served continuously in any other capacity in the Office of the City Attorney for one year or more immediately preceding the action. The time during which persons serve at the pleasure of the City Attorney as prescribed in subsection (d) shall not be considered in the computation of time periods under this provision.
(b) Every person having served for those periods enumerated in the preceding subsection who is removed, suspended, or reduced in grade, shall have the right to appeal to an impartial trier of fact in accordance with written rules promulgated by the City Attorney. The rules shall, before they become effective, be submitted to the Council. If the Council approves the rules, or if the Council fails to disapprove the rules within 60 days after submission, they shall become effective. The rules shall provide for service upon the person involved of a written statement of grounds and for a fair hearing by an impartial trier of fact who may:
(1) deny the appeal;
(2) sustain the appeal and order that the appellant be reinstated with full back pay to the position from which removed, suspended, or reduced in grade; or
(3) sustain the appeal in part and deny it in part and substitute as a lesser penalty either a suspension or a reduction in grade as may be appropriate. The trier of fact shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses under oath, and compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of evidence at the hearing by subpoena to be issued by the City Clerk.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any person employed in the Office of the City Attorney is subject to layoff due to lack of work, lack of funds, or abolishment of position in a manner consistent with the principles contained in Section 1015. The rules promulgated pursuant to the preceding subsection shall establish the procedures for layoffs, determination of seniority rights, and for the establishment of reserve lists.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the City Attorney may appoint to serve at the pleasure of the City Attorney from among persons not then employed in the Office of the City Attorney no more than four assistants who meet the qualifications for those positions, and no more than four other persons. At the time of the appointments, the City Attorney shall file with the City Clerk a statement identifying the persons appointed. The appointment of all persons serving at the pleasure of the City Attorney shall terminate when the succeeding City Attorney is sworn in, unless reappointed by the succeeding City Attorney. In the event there is no vacancy in the class of positions to which a person is appointed under this provision, and should the Council fail to authorize an additional position, the person in the class to which the appointment is to be made having the least seniority in that class and higher classes shall be reassigned to a position in any other lower class of positions in which that person has displacement rights based on seniority or, at that person’s option, may be transferred to any vacant position in the Office at the same or lower level class for which that person is found by the City Attorney to be qualified.