By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THE Supreme Court has reversed the trial court’s decision in connection with the lawsuit of a terminated employee of Northern Mariana College.
The justices reversed the trial court’s decision finding that NMC employees are members of the civil service system.
Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan, Associate Justices Alexandro C. Castro and John A. Manglona, in their order on Wednesday, said NMC is a fully autonomous agency under the CNMI Constitution and, as such, is exempted from the civil service system.
The justices said the Civil Service Commission does not have the authority to consider administrative appeals from NMC’s employees including that of the plaintiff, Jack Angello.
According to the Supreme Court, the plain language of the constitutional provision that establishes NMC as an autonomous agency exempts the college from the civil service system. The Civil Service Commission, they added, does not have jurisdiction over NMC’s administrative appeals.
Angello was an NMC employee until Sept. 24, 2002 when the college terminated his employment under the “without cause” provision of his employment contract.
Angello appealed his termination to the NMC employee appeals committee which upheld the decision.
Angello then appealed the ruling to the Civil Service Commission. While the appeal was pending with CSC, NMC filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that CSC lacked jurisdiction over NMC’s employment decisions.
The Civil Service Commission held that in the absence of a provision in the law specifically exempting NMC employees from the civil service system, CSC retained jurisdiction.
NMC then appealed the CSC’s holding to the trial court. The Civil Service Commission filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that NMC lacked standing to appeal the CSC’s decision.
The trial court granted the motion.
NMC appealed the trial court’s decision.
The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision and remanded the case to the trial court to resolve whether NMC employees were subject to the Civil Service Act, 1 CMC 8101, and the civil service system.
The trial court held that NMC employees were part of the civil service system because the Commonwealth Code did not specifically indicate that NMC was exempt from the Civil Service Act.
The trial court further found that NMC’s authority over the hiring, firing, compensation and classification of its employees did not affect an employee’s right to appeal to CSC in accordance with the Civil Service Act.
NMC appealed the trial court’s decision which the Supreme Court reversed again.