PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 9, 2021
RESIGN: Council cites due
process violations for severance
Continued from page 1
one year’s worth of health insurance cov-
erage for him and his family as part of a
separation agreement. Health insurance
will end if Eppley fi nds new employment.
Keizertimes has asked for an estimate of
what it will pay out to Eppley but did not
receive an answer by press time. The pay-
ment may top six fi gures.
Mayor Cathy Clark was given
authority to sign the fi nal documents
independent of council approval. Clark
was moved to emotion reading a state-
ment accepting Eppley’s resignation.
Clark’s statement implied that
Eppley’s “due process rights might have
been violated” when a portion of his inci-
dent report was published.
Eppley’s resignation comes in the
wake of discharging a fi rearm in his
offi ce in early March.
brainfood
crossword
answers pg A6
DISCHARGED
Reverbs of shot at city hall
How due process applies
to public employees
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
As the Keizer City Council announced
accepting former city manager Chris
Eppley’s resignation, it also announced
a severance package was being off ered
because Eppley’s “due process rights may
have been violated.”
The council did not give a specifi c rea-
son for believing Eppley’s rights had been
violated, but it begs the question, “What
are a public employee’s due process
rights?”
The answer is derived from the Fifth
and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S.
Constitution.
No person “shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process
of law; nor shall private property be taken
for public use, without just compensation,”
states the Fifth Amendment.
The Fourteenth Amendment guaran-
tees, “No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges
or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.”
In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court deter-
mined that the property protections
extended to public employees in rul-
ing that an Ohio statue clearly granted
“civil servants property rights to their
employment.”
The case is known as Cleveland Board
of Education v. Loudermill, and the due
process rights relating to public employ-
ees are now known as Loudermill rights.
Later, those rights developed into what is
commonly called a Loudermill hearing.
According to the Oregon Supreme
Court, Loudermill hearings require that
public employers provide employees
faced with termination and other conse-
quences be provided with:
• A written notice of the charges.
• A notice of the kinds of sanctions
being considered.
• An informal opportunity for the
employee to refute the charges orally or in
writing.
A document produced by the League of
Oregon Cities, outlines some of the spe-
cifi c impact on Oregon’s public employers.
“According to the courts, whether a
public employee has a property interest
in their employment depends on whether
that employee has a legitimate expecta-
tion of continued employment,” a FAQ on
the organization’s website states. “Oregon
courts agree that due process does not
require a full evidentiary hearing.”
It is possible for an employee to relin-
quish Loudermill rights and release the
city from liability as part of a settlement
regarding the termination of employment.