Schalz v. McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission

Plaintiffs, full-time deputy sheriffs, challenged the authority of the defendant, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department Merit Commission (the commission) to enact a rule pertaining to their secondary employment. In the circuit court plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief, and from the granting of the commission’s motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs appeal.

The statutes governing the sheriff’s merit commission are found in the Sheriff’s Merit System Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 125, par. 151 et seq.). Two statutes give guidance to the commission’s authority to promulgate…