The Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled that a public employee’s discovery rights before a grievance panel hearing are limited to those documents the locality intends to use in the proceedings.

In reversing the trial court’s grant of mandamus, Justice Cleo E. Powell noted that, since there is neither a “common law right” nor a “general constitutional right” to discovery in administrative hearings, the locality grievance statute provided a “fairly limited opportunity for a grievant to obtain materials from the locality.”

“The absence of an explicit reciprocal obligation upon the grievant necessarily implies that, apart from the limited opportunity discussed below, discovery is not part of this statutory scheme,” she explained.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, joined by Justice Teresa M. Chafin, penned a lengthy dissent.

“[T]he statute provides that ‘the grievant and his attorney … shall be allowed access to and copies of all relevant files intended to be used in the grievance proceeding,” Kelsey wrote. “In my opinion, the City’s successful interpolation — ^by the City, but not by the grievant^ — is an invalid amendment to, not a valid interpretation of, the statute.”

The opinion is City of Hampton v. Williamson (VLW 023-6-018).

Grievance proceedings

Reese Williamson, a Hampton firefighter, was accused of making a remark that another firefighter, who was not there when the remark was made, “interpreted it as offensive and racist.”

Despite his apology, Williamson was fired. He...

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