Doerr v. Civil Service Commission

GRAY, J.,

pro tem.

—The City

and County

of San Francisco, its Civil Service Commission and its sheriff appeal from a judgment determining that George F. Doerr had been appointed to a permanent position of jailor; that his discharge by the sheriff upon the commission’s claim that the position was temporary was wrongful, and that he was entitled to reinstatement in such position. The parties agree as to the facts shown by the evidence but differ as to the duration of the position established by such facts. Respondent argues that the evidence relative to the manner of his appointment and the continuous occupancy of the position of jailor is so similar to that in the case of

McGillicuddy

v.

Civil Service Com.,

133 Cal. App. 782 [24 Pac. (2d) 942], as to require affirmation of the judgment upon its holding that an appointment similarly made to a position of similar duration was permanent. Appellants concede the existence of such similarity in the facts but attempt to distinguish the cited ease from the present one upon the contention that here, but not in the cited case, the commission, under section 148 of the new charter, was authorized to determine the temporary, seasonal or permanent character of the position.

Eleven days before the effective date of the new charter, the commission, in response to the sheriff’s request for the certification of the person standing highest upon the register of eligibles for appointment to the position of jailor, of which the tenure stated was temporary, certified respondent as eligible for appointment as jailor for temporary employment. On the same day the sheriff appointed him as jailor for temporary employment. Section 10 of article XIII of the old charter, then in effect, provided, as is aptly stated in the McGillicuddy opinion, for two types of appointment, to wit, a regular appointment from an eligible list, which became complete after satisfactory service during a probationary period, whose length the commission by rule could fix at not exceeding six months, and a temporary appointment, when

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