Where The Old Shouldn't Swim

The Utah Court of Appeals has affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit against some legislators.  The reasoning is nothing special, and the outcome is no surprise.  But the underlying facts provide a nice guide to political life in Zion.  From the decision:

¶2 Plaintiff was employed by the Utah Department of Health (Department) as a general sanitation and safety manager for thirteen years.  In mid-2001, Plaintiff's supervisor assigned him to conduct training sessions on State administrative rules regarding public swimming pool sanitation and safety with the staff of the St. George and Cedar City local health departments. After conducting these training sessions, Plaintiff reported to his supervisor that these two local health departments were not enforcing Utah Administrative Code R392-302 regarding the design, construction, and operation of public swimming pools.

¶3 After Plaintiff reported his findings to his supervisor, a constituent of the Legislative Defendants complained to them that she believed her swimming pool in a retirement community should be exempt from administrative rules regulating public swimming pools.  Plaintiff spoke with the Legislative Defendants about the requirements of the administrative rules.  In their conversation, the Legislative Defendants insisted that Plaintiff exempt pools operated by retirement communities in their geographic area from portions of the State rules.  When Plaintiff told them that he could not exempt these types of pools, the Legislative Defendants told Plaintiff that if he did not comply with their wishes, they would deal with the issue in their own way, through legislative action.

¶4 During the Utah Legislature's next general session, the Joint Executive Appropriations Committee, which was co-chaired by Senator Hickman, voted to cut $115,700.00 from the Department's budget.  The committee action did not designate from which area of the Department's budget the money was to be taken, nor did it target any particular positions to be eliminated.  The appropriation committee's recommendations were later passed by both houses of the Utah Legislature as part of Senate Bill 1.⁽²⁾

¶5 According to Plaintiff's complaint, sometime after the budget reduction, Senator Hickman made a real or veiled threat to Department Executive Director Rod Betit, that if he did not implement the budget cuts to eliminate Plaintiff's position, Senator Hickman would push for future cuts in the Department's budget appropriations.  Subsequently, Plaintiff's position was eliminated and his employment terminated.  Plaintiff unsuccessfully appealed his termination to the Department head.

So, a state employee whose job it is to ensure safety of public swimming pools loses his job for doing his job.  No, don't change the law, just fire the foolish folk who enforce it. I particularly like that the source of the complaint was the owner of a pool for the retired.