City and County of Denver Lawsuit

On October 15th the Executive Board of Lodge 27 FOP filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver in the United States District Court. The basis of the complaint maintains the Administration of the City and County of Denver changed the Career Service Authority rules last in a deliberate attempt to deprive Denver Deputy Sheriffs of a fair process to appeal a disciplinary action through the Career Service Authority (CSA) Appeals system. The administration accomplished this by drafting a new rule (Rule 20) thatonly pertained to Denver Deputy Sheriffs.

This new rule unfairly discriminates against Deputy Sheriffs by making them the only class of employees in the CSA system to which appeals are evaluated under a different standard of review. Specifically, Deputy Sheriffs are no longer allowed a de novo review hearing. This standard of review means the Administrative law Judge hearing the Appeal evaluates the Department of Safety’s findings on any particular purported rule violation as if it were considering the question for the first time, affording no deference to the Department of Safety’s prior decisions. As a result of the new Rule 20, Deputy Sheriffs are now required to “bear the ultimate burden of proof in disciplinary appeals to show that the decision by the Department of Saftey was clearly erroneous and/or that the application of the disciplinary matrix was clearly erroneous.”

This lawsuit was filed because they are trying to “bust” the union, in a deliberate attempt to limit the appellate rights of Deputy Sheriffs and subvert the Fraternal Order of Police. A copy of the Complaint may be accessed here.