Commission hearings

Major discipline appeals are heard by the Commission or sent to the Office of Administrative Law for a hearing before an administrative law judge. The Commission may adopt, reject, or modify the judge's recommended decision. It can reverse or reduce the appointing authority's action, but it cannot substitute removal for a lesser penalty. The section also reaches some repeat minor discipline: a hearing is available once suspensions or fines of five working days or less add up to 15 working days in a calendar year, or after more than three such actions in a year. Where a guilty plea or conviction raises the forfeiture-of-office statute, the Commission does not refer or decide whether that statute applies; if the parties dispute whether a court actually entered a forfeiture order, the Commission may resolve that narrower question.