Chiropractic Board Fires Leader, Taps Interim Chief
The California Board of Chiropractic Examiners on Friday held an open meeting to fire its executive director, whose dismissal earlier this month has drawn legal concerns from state lawmakers, the Sacramento Bee reports.
At a March 1 meeting, the board fired Executive Director Catherine Hayes and named Richard Tyler as interim executive director. Tyler also serves as chair of the board (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 3/24).
The board might have violated a state open meetings law when it fired Hayes in a closed meeting. State law provides employees subject to discipline to receive written notice 24 hours before the meeting of their right to have a public hearing rather than a closed session. The issue was not on the agenda for the March 1 meeting.
The firing also drew criticism because Tyler would have served as both judge and prosecutor in cases against chiropractors if he were occupying both the executive director and board member roles.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who appointed all the board members, earlier this month forced Tyler to relinquish his simultaneous role as executive director (California Healthline, 3/15).
Admitting "gross errors in judgment," Tyler said the meeting on Friday was convened "to begin the process of correcting the errors that were made in the past."
The board on Friday also appointed Brian Stiger as the acting executive director in an interagency agreement with the Department of Consumer Affairs (Sacramento Bee, 3/24).