Court documents showed that then-acting Commissioner Aniceto T. Ogumoro informed Police Officer 2 Alfred A. Celes on Sept. 2, 2009 about a notice of proposed adverse action: a reduction in rank and pay.
“The [department’s Request for Personnel Action on Dec. 23, 2007] was processed improperly and lacked documentation justifying the increase in salary and the promotion. The competitive promotion procedures were not applied and therefore your promotion was inappropriately prepared and deemed in violation of the Personnel Service Rules and Regulations and the Northern Mariana Islands Administrative Code under the reallocation/reclassification provisions,” Ogumoro told Celes.
Ogumoro’s letter was among the government’s attachments to its motion for summary judgment for a petition for judicial review relating to grievances against DPS filed by Sgt. James C. Deleon Guerrero in Superior Court.
“Since the beginning Sgt. Deleon Guerrero’s cause has been about the rules; following the rules; and applying the rules to everyone. At the same time, the issues remain unresolved and hopefully the court will say what the law is, that it must be applied, and that it applies to all. Civil service rules, unlike those for political appointees, are all about protecting those in the system to ensure fair play,” attorney Robert T. Torres, who is representing Deleon Guerrero, said in an e-mail to the Variety.
Assistant Attorney General Maeghan Hassel-Shearer said Deleon Guerrero’s petition for judicial review “is in the form of a request for declaratory and injunctive relief” and should be dismissed.
“DPS has remedied their grievance by demoting the officer who was improperly promoted and by conducting a desk audit. Moreover, the governor has issued a directive commanding DPS not to make any further improper promotions. These actions render the petition for judicial review moot,” Hassel-Shearer said.
In his memorandum in support of motion for summary judgment and award of attorney’s fees and costs, Torres said “this case is unusual in several respects.”
First, he said “all material facts are unrefuted: the government has entirely failed to address, let alone contest, the legal or factual bases of DPS Police Sgt. Deleon Guerrero’s grievances and his complaint for judicial review.”
“Even more importantly, all government officials charged with the implementation and enforcement of the mandatory hiring and promotion practices at issue in this case agree that binding procedural prerequisites — if not deliberately ignored — were not followed,” the lawyer said.
Torres said “in failing to act or otherwise respond to Sgt. Deleon Guerrero’s grievances, the government has forced the Commonwealth and Sgt. Deleon Guerrero to incur fees and expenses which plainly should have been avoided. Sgt. Deleon Guerrero is thus not only entitled to judgment in his favor but also an award of attorney’s fees and costs for requiring the Department of Public Safety to comply with personnel policies and rules.”
The Celes promotion was “unusual not only because it effected a ten step jump during a period of financial austerity measures, but also because Celes had not spent any time as Police Officer 3 before his elevation to sergeant,” Torres said.
Deleon Guerrero also learned that former AGO Investigator Paul T. Ogumoro had been hired as a police sergeant when no vacancy announcement had been made to DPS employees, Torres said.
Deleon Guerrero protested the preference for recent appointees over other in service candidates such as himself and other officers within DPS, Torres said.
“Ogumoro was hired for the position, even though he came from outside the department,” Torres said.
“Ogumoro, moreover, was also hired as a provisional appointee and was being paid a salary higher than Deleon Guerrero’s, even though he had not accumulated any time-in-grade service within DPS for several years,” Torres added.
Deleon Guerrero learned that Sgt. Vicente Tagabuel, who had recently rejoined DPS, was also receiving a salary greater than that being paid to Deleon Guerrero, even though Tagabuel had left DPS for nearly 10 years, “was hired as a probationary employee, and had left DPS under less than favorable circumstances.”
Although Deleon Guerrero also registered his objection to the Tagabuel and Ogumoro hirings, his informal grievances and objections were met with inaction, Torres said.
