McGill

Appellant was a motorman employed by the Public Utilities Commission of the City and County of San Francisco for the Municipal Railway. His employment started April 8, 1957, but he was a limited tenure employee under section 145.1 of the city charter until April 17, 1962, when the manager of the railway took the first step to terminate appellant’s employment. The manager wrote a letter to the public utilities commission recommending dismissal. The commission referred the matter to the civil service commission because of section 145.1, which reads as follows: “Limited tenure appointments may be terminated by the appointing officer for good cause at any time with the approval of the Civil Service Commission without reference to the procedures governing removal set forth in section 154 hereof.” (Italics added.)

The civil service commission disapproved the termination but ordered that appellant be suspended for a period of 90 days. The manager asked for reconsideration but the civil service commission refused the request because, as the commission stated in a letter, “there had not been good cause for this termination,” and the commission reaffirmed its previous decision. The manager…