Sacramento County Alliance of Law Enforcement v. County of Sacramento

Randy Spitze, a civil service employee with the County of Sacramento (the county), was passed over for two temporary assignments to positions in a higher classification, despite the fact he was on the eligible list for the higher classification and the employees chosen for those assignments apparently were not. Spitze and the employee organization that represents him (Sacramento County Alliance of Law Enforcement or SCALE) appealed one of the temporary assignments to the county’s Civil Service Commission (the commission), but the commission refused to hear the appeal, contending it was not within the commission’s appellate authority. Spitze and SCALE (collectively plaintiffs) filed a petition for writ of mandate against the county in the superior court, but the court denied relief.

On appeal, we are faced with two questions. First, is a civil service position “vacant” when the employee regularly assigned to that position is on vacation or temporarily assigned to another position? Second, does the commission have jurisdiction to hear an administrative appeal regarding an allegedly unauthorized temporary civil service appointment? As we will explain, the answer to the…