ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 422
(By Senators Bowman, Wiedebusch, Schoonover, Buckalew,
Miller, Dittmar, Bailey, Wagner and Blatnik)
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[Introduced February 16, 1996; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article fourteen,
chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to civil
service for deputy sheriffs; removal, discharge,
suspension or reduction in rank and pay; appeal;
reduction in force; mandatory retirement age; and
allowing county commissions and courts to determine
reasonable attorney fees in cases of a reinstated or
exonerated deputy sheriff.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article fourteen, chapter seven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. CIVIL SERVICE FOR DEPUTY SHERIFFS.
§7-14-17. Removal, discharge, suspension or reduction in rank
or pay; appeal; reduction in force; mandatory
retirement age.
(a) On and after the effective date of this article, no
deputy sheriff of any county subject to the provisions of this
article
shall may be removed, discharged, suspended or reduced in
rank or pay except for just cause, which
shall may not be
religious or political, except as provided in section fifteen of
this article; and no such deputy
shall may on and after the
effective date of this article, be removed, discharged, suspended
or reduced except as provided in this article and in no event
until
he the
deputy sheriff shall have has been furnished with a
written statement of the reasons for
such that action. In every
case of
such removal, discharge, suspension or reduction, a copy
of the statement of reasons therefor and of the written answer
thereto, if the deputy sought to be removed, discharged,
suspended or reduced desires to file such written answer, shall
be furnished to the civil service commission and entered upon its
records. If the deputy sought to be removed, discharged,
suspended or reduced
shall demand demands it, the civil service
commission shall grant
him a public hearing, which hearing shall be held within a period of ten days from the filing of the
charges in writing or the written answer thereto, whichever shall
last occur. At
such the hearing the burden shall be upon the
removing, discharging, suspending or reducing sheriff,
hereinafter in this section referred to as "removing sheriff," to
justify his action, and in the event the removing sheriff fails
to justify his action before the commission, then the deputy
removed, discharged, suspended or reduced shall be reinstated
with full pay, forthwith and without any additional order, for
the entire period during which
he the deputy may have been
prevented from performing
his the deputy's usual employment, and
no charges shall be officially recorded against
his the deputy's
record. The deputy if reinstated or exonerated, shall, if
represented by legal counsel, be awarded
an attorney fee of no
more than two hundred fifty dollars reasonable attorney fees and
such fee shall to be determined by the commission and paid by the
removing sheriff from county funds. A written record of all
testimony taken at
such the hearing shall be kept and preserved
by the civil service commission, which record shall be sealed and
not be open to public inspection, if no appeal
be is taken from
the action of the commission.
(b) In the event that the civil service commission
shall
sustain sustains the action of the removing sheriff, the deputy
removed, discharged, suspended or reduced on or after the
effective date of this article,
shall have has an immediate right
of appeal to the circuit court of the county. In the event that
the commission
shall reinstate reinstates the deputy removed,
discharged, suspended or reduced, the removing sheriff
shall have
has an immediate right of appeal to
said the circuit court. Any
appeal must be taken within ninety days from the date of entry by
the civil service commission of its final order. Upon an appeal
being taken and docketed with the clerk of the circuit court of
said the county, the circuit court shall proceed to hear the
appeal upon the original record made before the commission and no
additional proof
shall may be permitted to be introduced. The
circuit court's decision shall be final, but the deputy or
removing sheriff, as the case may be, against whom the decision
of the circuit court is rendered
shall have has the right to
petition the supreme court of appeals for a review of the circuit
court's decision as in other civil cases.
Such The deputy or
removing sheriff
shall also
have has the right, where
appropriate, to seek in lieu of an appeal, a writ of mandamus. The deputy, if reinstated or exonerated by the circuit court
or
by the supreme court of appeals, shall, if represented by legal
counsel, be awarded
an attorney fee not to exceed five hundred
dollars, and if reinstated or exonerated by the supreme court of
appeals, shall be awarded an attorney fee not to exceed five
hundred dollars, reasonable attorney fees as approved by the
court and
such the fees shall be paid by the removing sheriff
from county funds.
Provided, That the aggregate amount of
attorney fees awarded by the commission, the circuit court and
the supreme court of appeals, shall not exceed one thousand
dollars for any member litigant
(c) The removing sheriff and the deputy sought to be
removed, discharged, suspended or reduced shall at all times,
both before the civil service commission and upon appeal, be
given the right to employ counsel to represent them.
(d) If for reasons of economy or other reasons it
shall is,
on and after the effective date of this article, be deemed
necessary by any appointing sheriff to reduce the number of
his
deputies,
he the appointing sheriff shall follow the procedure
set forth in this subsection. The reduction in the numbers of
the deputy sheriffs of the county shall be effected by suspending the last
man or men person or persons, including probationers,
who have been appointed as deputies.
Such The removal shall be
accomplished by suspending the number desired in the inverse
order of their appointment:
Provided, That in the event the
number of deputies
shall again be is increased in numbers to the
strength existing prior to
such the reduction of deputies, the
deputies suspended under the terms of this subsection shall be
reinstated in the inverse order of their suspension before any
new appointments of deputy sheriffs in the county
shall be are
made.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, no
deputy sheriff in any county subject to the provisions of this
article
shall may, on or after the effective date of this
article, serve as a deputy sheriff in any county subject to the
provisions of this article after
he attains attaining the age of
sixty-five.