POLICE Sgt. Peter Raymond Camacho is accusing the Civil Service Commission of violating his due process rights by failing to notify him about its Dec. 5, 2023, special meeting, and depriving him of the opportunity to be heard on his grievances.
Camacho, through his attorneys Robert T. Torres and Oliver Manglona, filed an administrative appeal in Superior Court regarding the commission’s final decision that dismissed his grievances against the Department of Public Safety.
Camacho is alleging violation of the Open Government Act.
According to his appeal, the commission decided to unanimously deny Sgt. Camacho’s grievances after deliberating in executive session away from the public and in violation of the CNMI Open Government Act.”
“Because the Commission’s deliberation of Sgt. Camacho’s grievances was held in secrecy and the record produced by the Commission does not contain the meeting minutes or records of the Commission’s deliberation, Sgt. Camacho is unaware of the basis supporting the Commission’s decision,” the appeal added.
It reiterated that “the Commission’s failure to provide records and documents of its committee meetings which involved Camacho grievances violated the Open Government Act, which requires that committee minutes be noticed and open to the public.”
As for DPS, the appeal stated that the department violated Camacho’s substantive due process rights by “precluding him from applying for the merit-based salary increase in DPS’ Examination Announcement Nos. 20-017 and 20-025 when he is a top qualifying candidate under those announcements and is an active, permanent civil service employee in the Government.”
Specifically, DPS “selected ineligible and unqualified candidates for announcement Nos. 20-017 and 20-025 who did not meet the qualification requirements under those announcements and in doing so violated the open competitive selection policies of the Civil Service’s Personnel System Rules and Regulations,” the appeal stated.
Camacho, through the Superior Court, requested CSC to enter a final decision regarding his grievance against DPS.
Camacho wanted CSC to issue a decision or decline to issue a decision within 15 days from Nov. 20 so that the parties could seek appropriate relief from the courts.
Camacho said DPS retaliated against him for filing a grievance against the department.
He also alleges the following:
• DPS failed to issue his annual performance rating report in a timely manner, which affected his ability to be equally and fairly considered for the employment positions he applied to.
• The Office of the Attorney General improperly commandeered the formal grievance process by injecting itself in the preliminary stages of the grievance process.
• DPS hired and selected candidates ineligible for employment under certain examination announcements. In addition, DPS relied on the faulty certification of those candidates by the Office of Personnel Management.
