FIRE
CAPTAIN ORDERED REINSTATED BY
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
By:
Saku E. Ethir
Lackie & Dammeier LLP
On
March 22, 2004, Judge Shahla S. Sabet of the San Bernardino County
Superior Court held that the city of Upland’s termination of Fire
Captain Philip Watkins was an abuse of discretion.
Watkins, a 28-year member of the city of Upland Fire Department,
with no prior discipline, was terminated for allegations of dishonesty
and insubordination. Watkins wholeheartedly denied the allegations.
The
charges stemmed from a February 14, 2002, incident in which Watkins was
asked by a department division chief to attend an appreciation event, at
a local mobile home park, with Watkins’ assigned engine.
Watkins asked for, and was granted, permission to attend the
event in approximately 45 minutes due to the fact that he and his crew
were getting supplies. Prior to the expiration of those 45 minutes, Watkins and his
engine were dispatched to two, almost consecutive, emergency calls.
At the conclusion of the two calls, the appreciation event had
already concluded.
In a
subsequent telephone conversation with the division chief, Watkins was
asked why his engine did not attend the event.
Watkins’ alleged response to the inquiry was that the city was
busy with five calls and that the engine had to get fuel.
The city alleged that Watkins' response to the inquiry was
dishonest. Watkins was also
asked in this subsequent conversation what the engine had been doing
when the division chief had contacted Watkins and requested that the
engine attend the event. Watkins’
response was that they had been getting “supplies”. The city alleged that this was a dishonest statement because
they did not agree with Watkins’ definition of what constituted
supplies. This was despite
testimony from several witnesses who agreed that the errands being run
by Watkins’ engine that day did constitute getting supplies.
The fire chief subsequently charged Watkins with insubordination
for not attending the event, and with dishonesty, for allegedly not
being honest about the reasons the engine did not attend the event.
Watkins
appealed his termination, and was represented at his administrative
evidentiary hearing by this author.
On December 20, 2002, following four days of hearing, the
three-member board unanimously overturned the fire chief’s termination
of Watkins. In addition,
the three-member board found the city had violated Watkins’ rights
under Skelly, and ordered that
he receive back pay to the date of termination.
Unfortunately, the decision by the three-member board was only
advisory to the Upland city council.
On January 27, 2003, the Upland city council voted 4–1 to
terminate Watkins.
A writ
to Superior Court was approved by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF).
At the Superior Court hearing on March 22, 2004, Watkins was
again represented by this author. At
this hearing, Judge Sabet overturned the termination of Watkins, holding
that “… Upland abused its discretion in dismissing Watkins when the
conduct in this case did not result in ‘harm to public service’ and
when balanced against 28 years of unblemished service, the punishment
appears to be too harsh and unsupported by the weight of the
evidence.”
Watkins
would like to thank the LDF and his attorneys at Lackie & Dammeier,
LLP for their constant support, without which this appeal would not have
been possible.
About the author:
Saku E. Ethir is an associate with the law firm of Lackie &
Dammeier, LLP, who represents police associations throughout California
in discipline and negotiation matters.
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