Section 36-26-28 Suspensions.
Section 36-26-28
Suspensions.
(a) An appointing authority may, from time to time, peremptorily suspend any employee without pay or other compensation as punishment for improper behavior, but the suspension or total suspension by the appointing authority of the person shall not exceed 30 days in any year of service. The suspension with loss of pay may be effected only by service upon the employee by the appointing authority of written charges setting out clearly the delinquency for which the suspension was made, a copy of which must at the same time be mailed or delivered to the State Personnel Director, and a written notice of the right to appeal the suspension as provided in subsection (b). The suspended employee shall have the right to file with the appointing authority a written answer or explanation of the charges.
(b)(1) The suspended employee may within 10 days after notice pursuant to this section file a written notice of appeal from the suspension. If the suspended employee gives notice of appeal from the suspension, the appointing authority shall have the discretion of whether to stay the suspension pending the disposition of the appeal or proceed with the suspension and provide the employee with a post-suspension review subject to the time frames prescribed herein.
(2) If a timely notice of appeal is filed, the appointing authority shall elect between one of the following methods of reviewing the claim. The appointing authority shall, within 10 days after receipt of the appeal, do one of the following:
a. Appoint a panel as provided for in subsection (c) to decide questions of fact, conclusions of law, and make recommendations to the appointing authority.
b. Appoint a designated hearing officer as provided for in subsection (d) who will decide questions of fact, conclusions of law, and make recommendations to the appointing authority.
(3) This subsection shall apply only to a department or agency of the state that has 25 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.
(c) In instances where the appointing authority elects to appoint a panel, the panel shall consist of three individuals, two of whom shall be in the same or equivalent classification as the suspended employee. The panel may, by majority vote, recommend to the appointing authority, after a hearing, either of the following:
(1) That the charges are unwarranted and that the suspension be revoked.
(2) That the charges are warranted and that the suspension be upheld.
(d) In instances where an appointing authority elects to appoint a hearing officer, the hearing officer shall be selected from a jointly approved list of individuals who shall be agreed upon by the Alabama State Employees Association and the respective department or agency. This process shall be repeated annually.
(e) Irrespective of which method the appointing authority selects for adjudicating suspension appeal hearings, all hearings shall be conducted in accordance with notions of due process.
(f) The burden of proof shall lie with the appointing authority to prove the charges forming the basis of the suspension.
(g) Those departments or agencies currently having an existing process for suspension hearings may continue to use the existing process, provided that they observe tenents of due process including that the burden of proof shall lie with the appointing authority.
(h) Further, this section shall not apply to any department which currently employs and continues to employ as a standard practice in such cases a pre-disciplinary hearing before an independent hearing officer who makes a recommendation for disciplinary action to the appointing authority based upon a fair hearing of the matter.
(i) Further, this section shall not apply to any department which currently employs and continues to employ as a standard practice in such cases an appeal hearing before an in-house hearing officer independent of the division or area in which the employee works. Said hearing officer shall be selected from an approved list of individuals who shall be jointly agreed upon by the Alabama State Employees Association and the respective department or agency. This process shall be repeated annually.
(Acts 1939, No. 58, p. 68, §25; Code 1940, T. 55, §316; Act 2001-670, p. 1404, §1.)