(A) Employee appeals. Employee appeals for the county shall consist of the county’s Administrative Law Judge appointed or designated pursuant to the procedures set forth in this code.
(B) Non-appealable actions.
(1) No probationary, temporary/seasonal or part-time employee, or appointed employee, has the right to appeal any disciplinary action or other employment action.
(2) No employees have appeal rights for verbal warnings, written reprimands or involuntary reassignment for disciplinary purposes which do not affect the employee’s rate of pay.
(3) Unless specifically provided by this section, no employee has the right to appeal a termination, transfer or pay reduction which is made for a non-disciplinary reason, such as a reduction in force, furlough, reorganization or a broadly applicable reduction in salary which affects multiple employees in a department or in the county.
(4) No employees have appeal rights for suspension from employment without pay for two days or less.
(5) No appeal is allowed from discharge or involuntary reassignment due to loss of state or federal licensure or certifications which are required for the employee’s position.
(C) Appealable rights for merit employees. Merit employees have the right to appeal any disciplinary action resulting in:
(1) Dismissal, termination or release from employment;
(2) Demotion;
(3) Suspension from employment without pay for more than two days; or
(4) Involuntary transfer for a disciplinary purpose to a position with less remuneration.
(D) Merit employees have the right to appeal a dismissal, termination, or release from employment, or reassignment to a position with less remuneration, based on the employee’s fitness for duty.
(E) Appealing to the Administrative Law Judge.
(1) Employees desiring to file an appeal must submit their written notice of appeal, describing in detail the grounds for the appeal with any supporting documentation, to the County Clerk or with the Chief Administrative Officer within ten business days following the employment action giving rise to the appeal, or an employee will be deemed to have waived all appeal rights.
(2) A copy of the appeal shall also be filed with the employee’s supervisor and the Human Resource Department. Upon receipt of the employee’s appeal, a date and time shall be set for the Administrative Law Judge to convene a hearing to hear the appeal. All appeal documents will then be forwarded to the Administrative Law Judge.
(3) Hearings and decision of the Administrative Law Judge shall be held and rendered as soon as reasonably practicable, with no unreasonable delay. The Administrative Law Judge may allow an enlargement of time for hearing preparations, if good cause is shown.
(4) All parties to the appeal shall be entitled to appear at the appeal hearing in person and to be represented by counsel, to have the hearing open to the public, to confront witnesses whose testimony is to be considered and to examine the evidence to be considered by the Administrative Law Judge.
(5) The Administrative Law Judge may request the appointment of independent medical or other technical experts, in the Administrative Law Judge’s sole discretion, if the Administrative Law Judge believes that the expert’s opinion is necessary for the resolution of the case.
(6) (a) All documentation to be presented at the appeal hearing shall be made available by each party upon written request of the party seeking the documentation at least five business days prior to the scheduled hearing date; all requests for documents shall be considered to be ongoing up to and through the time of the hearing.
(b) Any party to any appeal may, no later than five business days prior to the date of the appeal hearing or cutoff date for a decision, submit to the Administrative Law Judge a written brief, no more than ten pages in length, with supporting documentation, which articulates that party’s arguments and position regarding the subject matter of the appeal.
(c) Copies of all written briefs shall be concurrently forwarded to the opposing party, and a reply brief may be submitted in response no later than two business days prior to the hearing date or cutoff date for a decision.
(7) The Utah Rules of Evidence, Utah Rules of Civil Procedure and Utah Administrative Code do not apply to administrative hearings. Hearings are conducted to be fundamentally fair to the parties and to provide due process. The Administrative Law Judge may entertain objections in order to maintain decorum and to address issues of relevance.
(8) In the Administrative Law Judge’s discretion, parties may convene for a pre-hearing conference with the Administrative Law Judge to discuss relevant issues, such as anticipated witnesses or the scope of the appeal.
(F) Record of the hearing. An audio recording of the hearing shall be kept and all exhibits received in evidence at the hearing shall be maintained.
(G) Appeals from disciplinary actions. The proceedings for appeals from disciplinary actions are bifurcated.
(1) During the first phase of the proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge considers evidence of the charges upon which the discipline was based. The county bears the burden of proving the charges by a preponderance of the evidence.
(a) If the Administrative Law Judge sustains all of the charges, then it shall proceed to the second phase of the hearing, described herein.
(b) If the Administrative Law Judge sustains none of the charges, then the Administrative Law Judge shall overturn the disciplinary action.
(c) If the Administrative Law Judge sustains some, but not all, of the charges, then the Administrative Law Judge shall refer the decision back to the department director for reconsideration of the disciplinary decision, in light of the Administrative Law Judge’s findings. A referral back to the department director is an interlocutory order, and is not subject to appeal. The department director may decrease the severity of, modify, withdraw or retain the disciplinary decision previously made. If the department director fails to respond to the Administrative Law Judge within three business days from the Administrative Law Judge’s referral, then the Administrative Law Judge shall proceed as if the department director has not changed the disciplinary decision.
(2) During the second phase of the proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge considers whether the misconduct warranted the sanction imposed by the department director. The Administrative Law Judge gives broad deference to the department director’s choice of punishment, and reviews that decision for an abuse of discretion. The disciplined employee bears the burden of proving an abuse of discretion by clear and convincing evidence:
(a) A department director abuses his or her discretion if the sanction is arbitrary, capricious or illegal;
(b) When considering whether the sanction is arbitrary, capricious or illegal, the Administrative Law Judge may consider whether the discipline imposed is:
1. Disproportionate in light of the circumstances; or
2. Inconsistent with previous sanctions imposed by the department upon similarly situated employees pursuant to the department’s or county’s own policies.
(c) If the Administrative Law Judge finds that the disciplined employee has carried the burden of establishing an abuse of discretion, then the Administrative Law Judge shall overturn the disciplinary action.
(3) The disciplined employee may waive challenge to either phase of the proceedings at any time. In the absence of a clear, written waiver, the proceedings will proceed through both phases.
(H) Appeals from discharge or reassignment due to fitness for duty determinations.
(1) In cases of discharge or transfer to a position of less remuneration due to a determination that the individual is unfit to report to duty due to a medical condition, the employee has the right to appeal that decision.
(2) In cases of fitness for duty appeals, the county bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the circumstances warrant the action taken.
(I) Rendering decision.
(1) The Administrative Law Judge shall render a final decision in writing and may:
(a) Sustain the county’s action; or
(b) Overturn the county’s action. If the county’s action is overturned, the Human Resource Department or designee shall remove the record of the overturned action from the employee’s personnel file and retain it separately, which record shall be designated as private pursuant to state law.
(2) The Administrative Law Judge shall reinstate any loss of pay associated with an overturned action, but in the case where an employee has taken employment elsewhere, the amount shall be reduced by any amounts the employee earned from other employment during this period of time.
(3) If a department director reduces the severity of the disciplinary decision, then the Administrative Law Judge shall reinstate any loss of pay which would not have been incurred, if the reduced discipline had been initially imposed.
(J) Transmission. The Administrative Law Judge shall transmit a copy of its decision to the employee, the department director, the Human Resource Department and the County Recorder for certification. The County Clerk shall certify the decision by placing the county’s official seal on the document and the date of certification.
(Ord. 2020-11, passed 9-2-2020; Ord. 2023-03, passed 5-16-2023)