City officials altered appeal process after Pensacola fire chief and deputy chief placed on administrative leave

An preliminary analysis of the City of Pensacola Human Resources Policy Manual on the city’s website has revealed that the Chapter F – Administrative Appeals And Discipline of the manual (starting on page 71) was altered at 2:08 p.m. on Feb. 2——four hours after Pensacola Fire Chief Matt Schmitt and Deputy Chief Joe Glover were placed on administrative leave.

The administrative appeal process was changed. The right to appeal to a personnel board was eliminated.

Inweekly had downloaded the HR policy manual on Dec. 9, 2015 (City HR Manual_Dec 2015 version ). According to metadata for the pdf, it was created on 6/9/14 by Tracy Walsh.

That document had a six-step appeal process with the mayor as the final authority:

Step 1. Immediate Supervisor
Step 2. Next Higher Supervisor
Step 3. Department Manager
Step 4. Department Director/Administrator
Step 5. City Administrator
Step 6. Mayor: If the issue remains unresolved, the employee may appeal to the Mayor or designee within three (3) working days of the decision. Within five (5) working days a meeting will be held with the parties involved. The Mayor or designee will make every effort to present a final determination to be made available to all parties directly concerned within ten (10) working days of the meeting. The Mayor’s decision is final.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 10 a.m., Chief Schmitt and Deputy Chief Glover were placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation of an unknown complaint. (Note: Chief Schmitt asked for an administrative appeal in writing when he was placed on leave.)

Yesterday, Inweekly again downloaded the HR policy manual and noticed that the appeal process had been revised since December (Human_Resources_Manual_MASTER_201602021409514000). According to metadata of the pdf, the new file was created 2/2/16 at 2:08 p.m. by Tracy Walsh. The new manual has “1/8/16” on one page – page 77, but offers no explanation.

The new appeal process also has six steps, but injected Chief Human Resources Officer Ed Sisson and made City Administrator Eric Olson the final arbitrator:

Step 1. Immediate Supervisor
Step 2. Next Higher Supervisor
Step 3. Department Manager
Step 4. Department Director/Administrator
Step 5. Chief Human Resources Officer
Step 6. City Administrator: If the issue remains unresolved, the employee may appeal to the City Administrator or designee within three (3) working days of the decision. Within five (5) working days a meeting will be held with the parties involved. The City Administrator or designee will make every effort to present a final determination to be made available to all parties directly concerned within ten (10) working days of the meeting. The City Administrator’s decision is final.

(Note: Both Sisson and Olson are mentioned in the EEOC complaints filed by the fire department leaders. Glover told Inweekly he filed his complaint in December.)

Other changes made to manual:

The original manual said “Disciplinary actions are appealable to the Personnel Board.” The new manual says: “Disciplinary actions are appealable through the appeals process.”

The new manual adds:

Under Progressive Discipline: “The beginning level of action taken is to be based on the severity of the negative actions taken by the employee as determined by the employer and would typically be derived through communication and approval through the Chief Human Resources Officer.”

Under Written Reprimands: “Written reprimands are not eligible for appeal as they are not considered to be formal disciplinary action.”

Under Progressive Discipline:

Step One: “The supervisor should ensure the employee understands the expectation in regard to the rule/policy prior to ending the meeting. It is recommended that supervisors document the conversation in case it needs to be referenced in the future.”

Step Two: “It is recommended that the supervisor ask a fellow member of the management team to sit in as witness to this meeting and that the meeting be held in a private location away from other staff. The supervisor should document the meeting summarizing the conversation and confirm the employee’s agreement to improve/comply in the future. The supervisor should ensure the employee understands the expectation in regard to the rule/policy prior to ending the meeting.”

An employee may write a rebuttal to attach to and become part of this report – NEW “within five (5) working days of being presented with the written reprimand.”

Under Section F-5 Disciplinary Action Charges; Appeal Hearing

The old manual: “An employee has the right to appeal any disciplinary action and request a hearing before the Personnel Board on either or both the charges of misconduct and the action to be taken by the appointing authority. A written notice of appeal must be filed with Human Resources within five (5) working days after receiving written notice of the disciplinary action.”

New manual: “Disciplinary actions resulting in dismissal, suspension without pay, or demotion may be appealed by the affected employee pursuant to the process set out below. The time limits set forth in the appeal procedure must be adhered to by both the employee and the appropriate supervisory and administrative personnel unless extended for good cause by the Chief Human Resources Officer or his designee. The failure of the employee to process the appeal in a timely manner to the next level shall constitute a withdrawal of the appeal. The failure of supervisory or administrative personnel to respond in a timely manner to an appeal shall constitute authorization for the employee to process the appeal to the next step.”

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Inweekly called Deputy Chief Glover and asked if he and other firefighters had been notified of changes to the HR manual and that the Personnel Board – which was to be comprised of three members, one chosen by mayor, one by the employees and the third chosen both the two appointed members – had been eliminated.

Glover said he had not been notified. He said that the HR manual had been taken down from the website for sometime.

Inweekly has made a public request for all documents regarding revisions to the HR manual during the period of Dec. 1, 2015 to Feb. 3, 2016. The paper has asked for the metadata on the source document for the HR manual pdf. It has requested any notifications sent to the employees regarding revisions to the appeal process.

The newspaper also has requested interviews with Sisson and Olson.

Stay tuned.