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Judicial Rulings

U.S. District Court
Patronage firings costly
State officials are liable for payment of damages to state employees they fire for patronage reasons, U.S. District Judge J. Waldo Ackerman ruled August 4. Ackerman ruled in Wren v. Jones that the "firing" of 26 state workers in June 1973 violated their right to due process of law. The watershed ruling said "their status as Republicans was a motivating factor in their separation from state service," a violation of the plaintiffs' rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees free speech.

The suit was brought by 26 state employees laid off in 1973 in response to a court order that reinstated 26 other workers unfairly dismissed during a previous administration. Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Paul C. Verticchio ruled in Bradley v. Cellini that the first group was unfairly laid off because of patronage back in 1969. So the state laid off those persons who had the jobs originally held by the first group, even though these workers were not named in the Bradley case or by Judge Verticchio in his order. Therefore, they were denied due process.

Judge Ackerman found two of the defendants, J. Brian Hannigan and Robert D. Rhoads, "had to know of the political motivations" behind the layoffs, since they were responsible for personnel decisions in the Department of Transportation (DOT) where all but one of the plaintiffs worked. "They must be held liable for compensatory damages and attorneys' fees," the court ordered. A separate hearing will be held to determine the amounts. Hannigan and Rhoads may be eligible for immunity under a new state law. Thus the state would pay for the damages, which plaintiffs' attorneys estimate may run as high as $700,000.

This decision is thought to mark the first time that a court has awarded damages to government employees who lost their jobs because of political affiliation. And by fixing liability with the state officials who made the decisions, the holding in the Wren case could make offiicals in all levels of government more reluctant to fire employees for political reasons.

30 /October 1978/Illinois Issues


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