2006 Utah Code - 67-5-12 — Dismissal of career status attorneys -- Causes -- Procedure -- Retention roster -- Reappointment register.

     67-5-12.   Dismissal of career status attorneys -- Causes -- Procedure -- Retention roster -- Reappointment register.
     (1) (a) Attorneys in a career status may be dismissed only:
     (i) to advance the good of public service;
     (ii) where funds have expired or work no longer exists; or
     (iii) for causes such as dishonesty, inefficiency, insubordination, disloyalty to the orders of a superior, misfeasance, malfeasance, or nonfeasance in office.
     (b) Attorneys in career status may not be dismissed for reasons of race, national origin, religion, or political affiliation.
     (2) Except in aggravated cases of misconduct, no attorney in a career status may be demoted or dismissed without the following procedures:
     (a) The attorney general shall notify the attorney of the reasons for demotion or dismissal.
     (b) The attorney shall have an opportunity to reply and have the reply considered by the attorney general.
     (c) The attorney shall have an opportunity to be heard by the attorney general or his designated representatives.
     (d) Following a hearing, an attorney may be demoted or dismissed if the attorney general finds adequate reason.
     (e) If the attorney general finds that retention of an attorney would endanger the peace and safety of others or pose a grave threat to the public interest, the attorney may be summarily suspended pending administrative hearings and a review by the Career Service Review Board.
     (3) (a) An attorney in a career status who is aggrieved by a decision of the attorney general to either dismiss or demote may appeal the decision to the Career Service Review Board or its hearing officers by following the procedures in Title 67, Chapter 19a, Grievance and Appeal Procedures.
     (b) Matters other than dismissal or demotion may be appealed to and reviewed by the attorney general or a designated representative whose decision is final with no right of appeal to the Career Service Review Board or its hearing officers.
     (4) Disciplinary actions shall be supported by credible evidence, but the normal rules of evidence in courts of law do not apply in hearings before the attorney general or the Career Service Review Board or its hearing officers.
     (5) (a) Reductions in force required by reinstatement of an attorney under Section 67-5-11, inadequate funds, change of workload, or lack of work shall be governed by a retention roster to be maintained by the executive director of the Department of Human Resource Management and the requirements of this Subsection (5).
     (b) Attorneys not in a career status shall be separated before any attorney in a career status.
     (c) Retention points for each attorney in a career status shall be based on the attorney's seniority in service as an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, including any military service fulfilled subsequent to the attorney's original appointment.
     (d) Attorneys in career status shall be separated in the order of their retention points, the attorney with the lowest points to be discharged first.
     (e) Those attorneys who are serving in other positions under Section 67-5-11 shall:
     (i) have retention points determined as if they were working for the office; and

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     (ii) be separated in the order of the retention points as if they were working in the Office of the Attorney General.
     (f) An attorney in a career status who is separated by reason of a reduction in force shall be:
     (i) placed on a reappointment register kept by the executive director of the Department of Human Resource Management for one year; and
     (ii) offered reappointment to a position in the Office of the Attorney General before any attorney not having a career status is appointed.

Amended by Chapter 139, 2006 General Session