{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-67a.280","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 67A.280","heading":"Dismissal, suspension, or reduction.","body":"(1) No employee in the classified service of urban -county government, after serving a\nprobationary period provided by comprehensive plan or ordinance for his class,\nwhich shall not be in excess of six (6) months, shall be dismissed, suspended, or\nreduced in gr ade or pay for any reason except inefficiency, misconduct,\ninsubordination, or violation of law involving moral turpitude.\n(2) Any person may prefer charges in writing against any employee by filing them with\nthe appointing authority who shall communicate the charges without delay to the\nhead of the executive unit in charge of personnel matters, and to the civil service\ncommission. The charges must be signed by the person making them and must set\nout clearly each charge. The appointing authority shall, when ever probable cause\nappears, prefer charges against any employee whom he believes guilty of conduct\njustifying his removal or disciplinary action. Upon the filing of charges, the\nsecretary of the civil service commission shall notify its members and serve a copy\nof the charges upon the accused employee with a statement of the date, place, and\nhour at which the hearing of charges will begin, this hearing not to be held within\nthree (3) days of the date of the service of charges upon the accused employee. The\nday on which the charges are served on the accused employee shall count as one of\nthe days of notice. The person accused may in writing waive the service of charges\nand demand trial within three (3) days after they have been filed with the secretary\nof the civil service commission.\n(3) Upon the hearing, the charges shall be considered traversed and put in issue, and the\ntrial shall be limited to the issues presented by the written charges, provided,\nhowever, that the charges may be amended prior to trial, in which event the notice\nprocedures hereinabove described shall be again complied with, and reasonable\nopportunity given for the preparation for trial on the amended charges.\n(4) The civil service commission shall have the power to summon and compel\nattendance of witnesses at all hearings by subpoena issued by the secretary of that\nbody and served upon the witnesses by members of the police department of the\nurban-county government or any officer authorized to serve subpoenas. If any\nwitness fails to appear in response to a summons or refuses to testify concerning any\nmatter on which he may lawfully be interrogated, any District Judge, on application\nof the commission, may compel obedience by proceedings for contempt as in the\ncase of disobedience of a subp oena issued from the District Court. The accused\nemployee shall have the right to have subpoenaed any witnesses he may desire,\nupon furnishing their names to the secretary. Subpoenas may be served on the\nrequest of the accused employee without charge. They  shall be issued by the\nsecretary and served by the police department. The action and decision of the civil\nservice commission on the charges shall be reduced to writing and kept in a book\nfor that purpose and the written charge shall be attached to the bo ok containing the\nbody's decision.\n(5) In cases where the head of the department or executive unit or the appointing\nauthority has probable cause to believe an employee has been guilty of conduct\njustifying his removal or punishment, he shall immediately s uspend that employee\nfrom duty or from both pay and duty pending trial and the employee shall not be\nplaced on duty or allowed pay thereafter until the charges are heard by the civil\nservice commission.\n(6) The civil service commission shall punish any emp loyee found guilty by reprimand\nor a suspension for any length of time not to exceed six (6) months, or by reducing\nthe grade, if the employee's classification warrants, or by combining any two (2) or\nmore of these punishments, or by dismissal. No employee  shall be reprimanded,\nremoved, suspended, or dismissed except as provided in this section.\n(7) Irrespective of the other provisions of KRS 67A.230 to 67A.310, an employee may\nbe suspended by the head of the executive unit in which he is employed, or by th e\nappointing authority, but only as provided by comprehensive plan or ordinance, for\na period not exceeding 30 days in any twelve (12) month period, and may be\nreprimanded by such head or authority not more than twice in any twelve (12)\nmonth period. In su ch event, the actions of such head or appointing authority shall\nbe subject to appeal to the commission. Such appeal shall be filed with the secretary\nof the commission within ten (10) days of the action of the unit head or appointing\nauthority, and may be  reviewed, reduced, or revoked by the commission after a\nhearing in which the unit head or appointing authority shall have reasonable\nopportunity under rules established by the commission, to support his charges. The\ngrounds of suspension or reprimand under this subsection shall be only those set out\nby comprehensive plan or ordinance. The commission shall further have the power,\nin the event it finds that the unit head or appointing officer acted in error, to take\nsuch action as shall be necessary to compe nsate the appealing employee for such\nerror. An appeal by an employee shall not suspend the operation of the action of the\nunit head or appointing authority pending action of the commission.\n(8) Nothing herein shall prevent the comprehensive plan or ordina nce from providing\nadditional remedies and rights to employees.","path":["KRS Chapter 67A"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=23861","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:49:27Z","sha256":"d98344f078713ff62c9865303d94f5180123be4723e87cee715673c4bf70851c","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-67a.270","next":"us-ky/krs-67a.290"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}