Sherman v. Town of Randolph

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reviewed the bypass of Scott Sherman, the highest-ranked candidate on a civil service eligibility list, for three police sergeant positions in Randolph. The court held that the personnel administrator could delegate receipt of bypass reasons and that, despite serious flaws in the town's interview process, substantial evidence supported a reasonable justification for the bypass. The court affirmed the Superior Court's denial of Sherman's motion for judgment on the pleadings.

Holdings

1. The personnel administrator may permissibly delegate to an appointing authority the duty under G. L. c. 31, § 27, to receive the appointing authority's written statement of reasons for bypassing a higher-ranked candidate.
2. A bypass may be upheld despite serious procedural flaws in the appointing authority's selection process when the appointing authority has an independently reasonable, merit-based justification for the bypass and the flaws are not so severe that the merits cannot be evaluated from the record.
3. On the facts of this case, an appointing authority may consider aspects of a candidate's training, experience, or military service in deciding whether to bypass a higher-ranked candidate, even when related statutory credits or preferences contributed to the candidate's certification score.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the personnel administrator improperly delegated the duty under G. L. c. 31, § 27, to receive an appointing authority's written reasons for bypassing a higher-ranked candidate.
2. Whether the Town of Randolph had reasonable justification under G. L. c. 31, § 27, to bypass Sherman despite serious flaws in its interview and candidate-selection process.
3. Whether the town impermissibly gave double credit for the selected candidates' training, experience, or military service when those factors had also affected their civil-service certification scores.

Disposition

affirmed