Okla. Admin. Code § 455:10-11-17 - Discharge

(a) General. A permanent classified employee may be discharged for any of the reasons set forth in OAC 455:10-11-14.

(b) Pretermination hearing. Before any permanent classified employee may be terminated, the employee shall be afforded a pretermination hearing to be held before the appointing authority or his or her designee. A pretermination hearing shall not be required if the employee is being terminated as part of a reduction-in-force as provided for in Title 74 O.S., Section 840-2.27 C.

(1) Purpose. The purpose of a pretermination hearing is to provide the appointing authority or his or her designee with information from which a determination may be made as to whether or not reasonable grounds exist to believe that the charges against the employee are true and whether or not the grounds support the proposed termination.

(2) Notice. Notice of the pretermination hearing shall be provided to the employee by personal service or certified or registered mail at least seven calendar days before the scheduled pretermination hearing. Pending completion of this notice and the pre-termination hearing, an employee may be suspended with pay in accordance with rules adopted by the Administrator of the Human Capital Management Division. The notice shall include, as a minimum:

(A) the statute, rule, policy, practice or procedure of work performance or behavior which was violated and cause for the proposed action;

(B) all grounds for the proposed action;

(C) a summary of evidence or physical evidence to support each of the stated grounds for the proposed action;

(D) a statement of the employee's right to be represented, by an attorney or other person of his or her choice, at the pre-termination hearing; and

(E) date, time and location of the pre-termination hearing.

(3) Disciplinary certificate. The appointing authority shall file in the employee's official personnel file at least seventy-two (72) hours before each pretermination hearing, a certificate to be included in the record stating what disciplinary actions have been taken to comply with progressive discipline prior to the pretermination hearing and proposed termination and further certifying that all mandatory progressive discipline actions as required by statute or rule have been taken before pretermination hearing; provided, said certificate shall not be required where grounds for proposed termination are for commission of a criminal offense and/or acts involving moral turpitude [74:840-6.4(B)(3)].

(4) Hearing. The pretermination hearing need not be a full evidentiary hearing and formal rules of evidence shall not apply. The pretermination hearing shall be recorded in its entirety. The employee shall be provided a copy of the recording, at no cost, if the employee appeals to the Commission and requests a copy. A copy shall be provided as soon as possible but no later than 14 calendar days after the request is made.

(5) Legal review. Following the pretermination hearing, if recommendation for termination is made, recordings of the pretermination hearing and all evidence in support thereof, shall be reviewed for legal sufficiency by the appointing agency director or his or her designee before termination is final [74:840-6.4(B)(7)].

(c) Final action. Within ten working days after the pretermination hearing the employee shall be provided written notice of the final action, by personal service or certified or registered mail. If the decision is made to proceed with the termination, the notice shall include, as a minimum:

(1) the statute, rule, policy, practice or procedure regarding work performance or behavior which was violated and cause for the termination;

(2) all grounds for the termination;

(3) a citation of the law or rule under which the termination is being taken;

(4) effective date of the termination;

(5) a citation of any other informal or formal discipline which was used in the decision to administer the termination; and

(6) a statement of the employee's right to file an appeal with the Commission, the 20 calendar day time limit for the Commission's receipt of the appeal and the address of the Commission; and

(7) a copy of the Commission's petition for appeal form.

Notes

Okla. Admin. Code § 455:10-11-17

Added at 12 Ok Reg 2823, eff 7-13-95; Amended at 17 Ok Reg 2560, eff 6-26-00; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 559, eff 3-1-08 through 7-14-09 (emergency)¹; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 2690, eff 7-25-09

Amended by Oklahoma Register, Volume 33, Issue 24, September 1, 2016, eff. 9/11/2016

¹This emergency action expired before being superseded by a permanent action. Upon expiration of an emergency amendatory action, the last effective permanent text is reinstated. Therefore, on 7-15-09 (after the 7-14-09 expiration of the emergency action), the text of 455:10-1-2 reverted back to the permanent text that became effective 6-26-00, as was last published in the 2006 Edition of the OAC, and remained as such until amended again by permanent action on 7-25-09.