Sturdivant v. Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

The primary issue in this case is whether a State agency is required—as opposed to authorized—to fill vacant positions by reinstating laid-off State employees.

In 2009, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (“DHMH”) closed the Rosewood Center, a facility that provided treatment services to developmentally disabled individuals, and transferred a number of its staff members to Spring Grove Hospital, a psychiatric hospital. As a result of the consolidation of the two facilities, a number of Spring Grove staff members were laid off,1 including the 17 appellants in this case.2 Some…