Woods v. State Civil Service Commission - Pennsylvania Supreme Court - December 27, 2006
majority http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Supreme/out/J-104-2006mo.pdf concur/dissent http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Supreme/out/J-104-2006mo.pdf
In a 5-2 decision, the court held that the arrest of a youth counselor on felony (perjury) and misdemeanor (false swearing) charges did not, by itself, constitute "just cause" for dismissal under the state civil service law, 71 P.S. sec. 741.807.
"Just cause" is not defined by the statute, but it has been held to mean cause that is "merit-related,and the criteria must touch upon competency and ability in some rational and logical manner." Just cause involves considerable discretion on the part of the department head, but "[t]o be sufficient...the cause should be personal to the employee and such as to render him unfit for the position he occupies, thus making his dismissal justifiable and for the good of the service."
The court held that while the arrest "may have warranted suspension, we disagree that his arrest along on perjury and false swearing charges establish just cause for removal." The "arrest alone did not rationally and logically touch upon his competency and ability to perform his job as to warrant dismissal....and therefore did not provide just cause for removal." The "arrest alone, albeit on crimen falsi charges, failed to demonstrate that his trustworthiness or integrity had been compromised." The court "decline[d] to adopt a per se rule that 'the appearance of impropriety' by an employee in 'highly sensitive positions' provides just cause to warrant dismissal."
The court also held that absent some indication that the employee's competence and ability to perform his job had been compromised, the mere fact of student awareness of the arrest and charges was alone insufficient to provide the just cause for removal.
