Miller v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation

Opinion by

Judge Craig,

Petitioner Joan Miller, an employee of the Department of Transportation, has appealed from an order *447of the Department of Transportation sustaining her demotion by the department from Clerical Supervisor II to Clerk-typist I.

Miller charges she was demoted for political reasons, thus violating her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507 (1980) and Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347 (1976). Those decisions protect public employees if they can show that a change of status, such as discharge, was due solely to the employee’s political affiliation.…