2025-02-25 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board February 25, 2025 CHR. CABANAS: You are objecting to his MR. LEE: To the sufficiency of the Findings. CHR. CABANAS: To the sufficiency of the Findings. Okay. And Mr. Hong? MR. HONG: Good morning, Madam Chair, and members of the Board. I wanted to apologize first for my tardiness and to Counsel, and certainly to my clients that I was late because we had an agency appeal before Judge Kubota that he did a very deep dive into the facts of the minutia and took a lot longer than I anticipated. So, I apologize for being late —and I appreciate the Board's patience and everyone's patience. I would note that with respect to my client's appeal, in terms of the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Decision —we have no objection to that, as proposed. However, in the Order we would suggest that the Board give a date certain with respect to my client's appointment into the position because it's still unclear, based on what my client told me this morning that he has that permanent position. So, we would suggest that the "dull axe" approach, which is putting it right there in the Order saying, "As of this date, he is appointed to that position." CHR. CABANAS: Can you explain further why does Mr. Turner feel that it is unclear? MR. HONG: It's not— CHR. CABANAS: Is something happening that we are unaware of? MR. HONG: His position or the appointment to that position has, actually, not been confirmed by the department. What they're doing is putting him in a temporary position and they keep telling him that, "Oh, yeah, we're going to take care of it." Well, actually, from my perspective, I thought the Board actually took care of it and decided that issue —and now we're being trying to find the best, most appropriate kind wordwe're, kind of, caught in a limbo with respect to the department about actually pulling the trigger and making the position permanent. CHR. CABANAS: I understand. And the reason why the Finding of Fact and Conclusion of Order is important is because it should be addressed there. And so, that's why the Board I'm speaking for the Board as the Chair the Board wants to go into executive session to include further language to the document. The situation is, it's they're waiting for this document in order to effectuate Mr. Turner, off of TA, and putting him back formally into the Construction Equipment Repair Supervisor II position. And so, that's why this is really important. We need to do this today. Page 24