Columbus Civil Service Commission Hearings
The Civil Service Commission serves as a neutral hearing body for employee appeals regarding suspension or discharge actions. As a City of Columbus employee, your eligibility to be heard by the Commission may depend on your bargaining unit (union). As required by the Ohio Revised Code, the Commission also provides disciplinary appeal hearing services for all classified employees of the Columbus City Schools. These hearings are often called Trial Boards.
In addition, the Commission may consider appeals of the request for review decisions made by the Commission's Executive Director. These appeals are acted upon during regular Commission meetings.
Complete the Notice of Appeal Form form for one of the following reasons:
- You are appealing a disciplinary action or involuntary resignation from an eligible City of Columbus job.
- You already submitted a Request for Review and your request was denied. You want to appeal that decision. See the Reconsideration Forms tab to learn more about a Request for Review.
Notice to Parties Appearing before the Columbus Civil Service Commission
If you are a party appearing before the Columbus Civil Service Commission in a Hearing (Trial Board) read below to learn more about the hearing process.
Scheduling
Commission disciplinary appeals are scheduled on a “first filed, first heard” basis. When an appeal is filed, it is scheduled for the next available hearing date. Unless otherwise requested, sworn employees are scheduled before the full Commission (three Commissioners) and all other City of Columbus (City) employees or Columbus City School (School) employees are scheduled before a Trial Board (one Commissioner and two Civil Service staff members).
Continuances
Continuances are to be requested in writing no later than three weeks before the scheduled hearing date. Such requests must contain the reason the continuance is being requested and are subject to the approval of the presiding Commissioner. If a request for a continuance is not made at least three weeks before the scheduled hearing, the person requesting the continuance (or one of their representatives) must appear at the scheduled hearing to formally make the continuance request to the Commission.
Pre-Hearing Conference
Before your scheduled hearing date, you or your representative and the City's or School's representative will be scheduled to appear before a Commission Hearing Officer at a pre-trial hearing conference. The purpose of this conference is to identify the issues in dispute, the witnesses, their expected testimony, and the exhibits, both joint and individual.
Witnesses
If either party wishes the Commission to subpoena witnesses, then the party must provide a pre-hearing statement at the pre-hearing conference. The purpose of the pre-hearing statement is to give a detailed account of what you expect the testimony of each witness to be. The Commission will review this statement at its regular meeting on the day of the pre-hearing conference and decide to whom subpoenas will be issued. The pre-hearing statement must include the complete name and address, with zip code, of each individual to whom a subpoena will be mailed. The Commission staff is not responsible for researching or correcting mailing addresses.
Exhibits
Please provide one original and four copies of each exhibit to be presented during the hearing. The original is to be given to the Secretary to be marked for the official file. The other copies are for the three panel members and the other party.
Representatives
Representatives, please remember and advise your witnesses that hearings are being taped and that you need to speak up and directly into the microphone to make sure everything is recorded properly. Standing or walking while speaking prevents your voice from being recorded.