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Engrossed Version Senate Bill 422 History

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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.

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