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Rohrback v. Illinois Department of Employment Security

Case Date: 09/22/2005
Court: 4th District Appellate
Docket No: 4-04-0960 Rel

NO. 4-04-0960

IN THE APPELLATE COURT

OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

MARY ANN ROHRBACK and VIRGINIA WOOD,
                         Plaintiffs-Appellees,
                         v.
THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT
SECURITY; BRENDA RUSSELL; THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES; TOM FLATTERY; JOEL BRUNSVOLD; THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CENTRAL MANAGEMENT
SERVICES; MICHAEL RUMMAN; and THE
ILLINOIS CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
                         Defendants-Appellants.
                         and
THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT
SECURITY and THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF
NATURAL RESOURCES,
                         Counter-Cross-Plaintiffs,
                         v.
THE ILLINOIS CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION;
MARY ANN ROHRBACK; and VIRGINIA WOOD,
                         Counter-Cross-Defendants.		 )
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)		 Appeal from
Circuit Court of
Sangamon County
No. 04MR66













Honorable
Dennis L. Schwartz,
Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE APPLETON delivered the opinion of the court:

The State fired plaintiffs, Mary Ann Rohrback and Virginia Wood, on the ground that they had obtained reappointments to new four-year terms through fraud. Plaintiffs appealed to the Civil Service Commission (Commission), which overturned the discharges but suspended plaintiffs for 90 days for improperly trying to extend their terms of employment. The Commission held the reappointments were invalid because plaintiffs had never effectively resigned from their unexpired terms.

Plaintiffs then brought this action for administrative review. The employing agencies and the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) filed a counterclaim against the Commission and plaintiffs, asking the circuit court to find the charges to be proved in full and to order plaintiffs' discharge. The court reversed the Commission's decision in its entirety, finding it to be against the manifest weight of the evidence, and ordered defendants to restore plaintiffs to new four-year terms without the suspensions or any discipline whatsoever. The employing agencies and CMS appeal.

Because the State, with full knowledge of the facts, advised plaintiffs to enter into these precise transactions, we find the suspensions to be arbitrary and unreasonable. Further, we find no evidence in the record to support the conclusion that either plaintiff failed to effectively resign. Therefore, we affirm the circuit court's judgment.

 

I. BACKGROUND

A. Rohrback

On May 1, 2001, the State appointed Rohrback to the position of regional manager of the Department of Employment Security. This was a jurisdiction B position, meaning that after a six-month probationary period (see 20 ILCS 415/8b.6 (West 2000); 80 Ill. Adm. Code