Multnomah County Sheriff's Office v. Edwards

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals and the Bureau of Labor and Industries’ final order concerning Multnomah County’s failure to apply disabled-veteran preference in a promotion process that did not produce a score. The court held that ORS 408.230(2)(c) requires a public employer to devise in advance and apply a standard, regular procedure for giving veterans and disabled veterans special consideration. The court declined to address the validity of BOLI’s administrative rules and the county’s challenge to emotional-distress damages because those issues were unnecessary or unpreserved.

Holdings

1. When a public employer uses a hiring or promotion process that ranks applicants by a method that does not result in a score, ORS 408.230(2)(c) requires the employer to devise and apply a discernible, standard or regular procedure developed in advance for giving special consideration to veterans and disabled veterans.
2. Because the county did not challenge BOLI's factual findings, those findings were binding on judicial review and established that the county had not adopted a consistent method for granting veterans' preference.
3. The county's challenge to BOLI's authority to award emotional-distress damages was not preserved and could not be raised for the first time on judicial review because it challenged the lawfulness of the agency's exercise of authority, not the agency's subject-matter jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether ORS 408.230(2)(c) requires a public employer using an unscored hiring or promotion process to devise a standard or regular procedure in advance for giving special consideration to veterans and disabled veterans.
2. Whether BOLI's rule requiring application of a veterans' preference method at each stage of the hiring process was valid.
3. Whether the county could raise for the first time on judicial review its challenge to BOLI's authority to award emotional-distress damages.

Disposition

affirmed