City of Des Moines, Iowa v. Travis Hurley, 16-1042

Travis Hurley, a Des Moines firefighter hired in 2002, had a 2003 OWI conviction and was warned that further alcohol-related incidents could lead to termination; he was placed on unpaid leave during a 90-day license suspension and later returned to duty.
In 2009 Chief TeKippe revised Department Rule 29 to emphasize maintenance of driver’s license/EMT certification and that loss could jeopardize employment; Hurley signed the revised rule.
On May 18–19, 2014 Hurley was arrested for OWI (BAC .147), called in sick from jail rather than disclose the arrest, and later informed the chief; DOT suspended his license for one year.
The fire chief terminated Hurley on June 11, 2014 for misconduct, misuse of sick leave, and loss of driving privileges; Hurley pled guilty to OWI in January 2015.
The Civil Service Commission reversed the termination and imposed a suspension; the City appealed and the district court reversed the Commission and reinstated termination; this appeal followed.
The appellate court reviewed de novo and affirmed termination, finding misconduct and that termination was an appropriate sanction given public-safety and trust concerns and Hurley’s repeated offense after a warning.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Hurley)	Defendant's Argument (City)	Held
Whether the district court improperly shifted burden of proof and failed to perform a true trial de novo	District court limited review to arbitrariness and placed burden on Hurley to show termination was arbitrary	District court gave weight to its independent review and evaluated appropriateness of discipline	Court agreed district court erred in phrasing but conducted independent review and proceeded to merits; affirmed termination
Whether Hurley’s misconduct justified termination under Iowa Code §400.19 and Department rules	Termination was excessive given prior good record, mitigation (treatment), and inconsistent prior discipline	OWI while assigned duties, one-year license loss, misuse of sick leave, repeated offense after explicit warning justified discharge to protect public interest	Held termination was appropriate; misconduct established and sanction proportionate to protecting public trust and safety
Whether inconsistent past enforcement of Rule 29 barred termination	Prior inconsistent discipline undermines fairness of termination	Revision of Rule 29 addressed past inconsistency; enforcement against repeat OWI after revision is reasonable	Held inconsistency prior to rule revision did not prevent enforcement after rule clarified standards

Dolan v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 634 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 2010) (standard for reviewing civil service disciplinary actions and scope of trial de novo)
City of Des Moines v. Civil Serv. Comm’n, 513 N.W.2d 746 (Iowa 1994) (appellate court’s independent review of discipline appropriateness)