JUST because the Civil Service Commission lacks funding does not mean it can “abdicate” its responsibility to hear the complaints of aggrieved government employees, Deputy Attorney General Lilian A. Tenorio told the commission’s chairman, Raymond M. Muna.
Public Law 23-9 or the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Act allotted the commission a budget of $98,174. Of this amount, $97,174 will go to personnel and $1,000 to operations.
Last month, Muna asked the Office of the Attorney General for guidance on how the commission can hire a “badly needed” administrative hearing officer.
He said the Commonwealth Code vests the commission with the duty “to hear and decide appeals of any person aggrieved by any action of the Office of Personnel Management or other management or any employee for disciplinary action, suspension, demotion, or dismissal from civil service.”
In her response to Muna, the deputy AG said in order to perform its legal responsibilities, including to hear and decide on appeals, “it is incumbent on the Commission to address the funding issue either by re-prioritizing its budget or by appealing” to Gov. Arnold I. Palacios to exercise his reprogramming authority so that the commission may hire a qualified hearing officer.
There are 11 appeals on administrative cases still pending before the commission. The deputy AG said the docket is likely to expand through the fiscal year.
Tenorio said the commission has more than a quorum to meet and conduct business, including administrative hearings, so abdicating its responsibility “is not advisable.”
She told Muna that it would be tantamount to a judge declining to hear any cases because he has no law clerk, or the attorney general refusing to file criminal cases because of lack of funding to hire prosecutors.
Tenorio said, “The Commission should not relinquish this important responsibility by relying on the formalized process of the court to adjudicate disputes involving [the] civil service system” because it would be violating the law.
She said she was aware of only one circumstance when a member of the commission issued an order that allowed an aggrieved employee to petition for judicial review. But she said it occurred at a time when the commission did not have enough members to constitute a quorum to conduct business and hold hearings.
“That is not the case with the present Commission,” Tenorio added.
