NebApp orders Bellevue policeman rehired

Fired Bellevue police sergeant gets job back The Associated Press The city of Bellevue has been ordered to rehire a police sergeant who was fired. The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the city to rehire Tim Hrbek, who lost his job after shooting a fleeing suspect in 2002.The court said Hrbek was not allowed to see all the information used against him during a disciplinary hearing. Hrbek v. City of Bellevue Civil Serv. Comm. (Not Designated for Permanent Publication)Filed August 16, 2005. No. A-04-033. The city said the shooting was among several incidents that led to Hrbek's dismissal.Those included a delayed response to an emergency call because he was having a "romantic meeting" with a dispatcher.The Bellevue Civil Service Commission upheld the firing.But a Sarpy County judge ruled the city violated Hrbek's due process rights.The District court stated"

"Hrbek was not afforded adequate due process in that he was not given all the information compiled as a result of his pre-termination internal investigation, so that he could be apprised of the nature of the complaints against him and rebut such evidence at the hearing before the City Administrator. The fact that such information was ultimately forwarded to him in advance of his appeal to the . . . Commission does not cure the due process defect that had already occurred."

The City argues that Hrbek was not prejudiced by the fact that he did not receive the entire investigative file prior to his pretermination hearing, because Hrbek received the file prior to his appeal hearing before the Commission. The law states otherwise. In Martin v. Nebraska Dept. of Public Institutions, 7 Neb. App. 585, 584 N.W.2d 485 (1998), we addressed the same argument and held that procedurally adequate posttermination of employment proceedings do not cure pretermination due process violations. Specifically, the Martin court quoted Stallworth v. City of Evergreen, 680 So. 2d 229 (Ala. 1996), cert. denied 519 U.S. 1007, 117 S. Ct. 509, 136 L. Ed. 2d 399, for the following proposition: "To hold that a procedurally adequate post-termination hearing remedies the deprivation inflicted on a discharged employee by an earlier decision based on a pretermination hearing completely devoid of due process of law would be to render the United States Supreme Court's holding in Cleveland Board of Education [v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 105 S. Ct. 1487, 84 L. Ed. 2d 494 (1985),] a nullity. Furthermore, no matter how fair and adequate the procedures at the post-termination hearing may be, the initial decision made after the pretermination hearing inevitably will have diminished significantly the employee's chances of prevailing at the post-termination hearing." 7 Neb. App. at 594, 584 N.W.2d at 491-92.