47 Pa. Commw. 588 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1979
Opinion by
Juan D. Gonzales has appealed from an order of the State Civil Service Commission (Commission) sustaining Gonzales’s removal from the classified service for cause-insubordination. We affirm.
Gonzales was employed as a Mental Retardation Aide I at Polk Center. A Polk Center resident lodged a complaint that Gonzales had harassed and threatened him to induce him not to testify against another
Gonzales was thereupon removed from his position on the grounds of harassing and threatening a resident of the Center, of insubordination in failing to furnish a written report regarding the alleged harassment and threatening of the resident, and insubordination for failure to leave the Center when ordered to do so by his supervisor. Gonzales appealed his discharge to the Commission, which affirmed his removal, concluding that Gonzales’s arefus[al] to leave the premises after being told to do so by his supervisor and the security guards is.defiant and insubordinate behavior” constituting just cause for his removal.
Gonzales was a permanent status civil service employee and was subject to removal from his employment only for just cause. Section 807 of the Civil Service Act, Act of August 5, 1941, P.L. 752, §807, as
While there is no statutory definition of just cause for removal of a civil service employee, we have consistently stated that the cause in order to be just must be related to the employee’s performance of the duties of his employment. In Rizzo v. Civil Service Commission, 17 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 474, 479, 333 A.2d 212, 215 (1975), we wrote:
This means that any ‘personnel action’ carried out by the Commonwealth is to be scrutinized in the light of such criteria, as has the party failed to properly execute his duties, or has he done an act which hampers or frustrates the execution of same. The criteria must be job-related and in some rational and logical manner touch upon competency and ability.
Id., quoting Corder v. Civil Service Commission, 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 462, 467, 279 A.2d 368, 371 (1971). We have held that failure to follow the instructions of a supervisor is an example of behavior which goes to the merits and is just cause for dismissal. Mettee v. Civil Service Commission, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 82, 293 A.2d 147 (1972). An employer is entitled to expect that the employees will cooperate and that they will obey his reasonable instructions.
Gonzales admitted before the Commission that he refused to leave Polk Center when instructed to do so by his supervisor. His only excuse for not leaving is that he believed that the supervisor lacked the authority to order him off the grounds. Both the supervisor and the Superintendent of Polk Center testified that
While it is not essential that we discuss other questions, we note Gonzales’s argument that Polk Center violated its own procedural guidelines relating to the removal of employees. It is without merit. The guidelines in question, promulgated less than two weeks before Gonzales’s removal, expressly provide that they “may be modified to permit immediate suspension or discharge action in specific circumstances. ’ ’ Polk Center Administrative Policy (Personnel) NR. 27 (October 28,1977).
Oedeb
A nt) Now, this 7th day of December, 1979, the order of the State Civil Service Commission sustaining the actions of the Superintendent of Polk Center in removing Juan D. Gonzales from his position at Polk Center as Mental Retardation Aide I, regular status, is affirmed.