" See also Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney ex rel Taxpayers v Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425, 434; 14 N.W.2d 53 (1944); Saginaw Firefighters Ass'n Local No 422 v Police Fire Dep't Civil Service Comm, 71 Mich. App. 240, 243; 247 N.W.2d 365, 367 (1976). The civil service system was established basically to abolish favoritism and unfair advantage in municipal hiring and to create fair competition among applicants.
Act 78 was enacted to benefit the entire public by providing a better qualified, more efficient staff for the fire department. Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney ex rel Taxpayers v Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425, 434; 14 N.W.2d 53 (1944), Killingsworth v Police Fire Department Civil Service Commission of the City of Saginaw, 12 Mich. App. 340, 346; 162 N.W.2d 826 (1968), Day v Gerds, 54 Mich. App. 547, 550; 221 N.W.2d 221 (1974). Since the efficient operation of a fire department and its qualified members is intrinsic to a safer community, insuring that the act is followed so as to produce this goal is a public right. It touches and concerns every resident and taxpayer in the City of Saginaw.
Its purpose was to benefit the public by providing better qualified personnel and to protect the officers and employees from arbitrary and unjust removal. Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney ex rel Taxpayers v Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425; 14 N.W.2d 53 (1944). In order to facilitate the selection of better qualified people the act calls for appointments to be made on the basis of competitive examinations.
At the same time, this legislation extended to all members of the fire and police departments of such cities, villages, and municipalities, protection against political and personal preference or discrimination by their superiors. Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, ex rel. Taxpayers, v. City of Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425, 434; Winter v. Royal Oak City Manager, 317 Mich. 259, 266; Olson v. City of Highland Park, 345 Mich. 345, 349. Indeed, there is no room in the 1935 statutory scheme, as I read it, for preference of any kind to veterans as such. When we turn to the specific provisions of the 2 acts, their conflicts are equally obvious and equally irreconcilable.
" A like conclusion was reached in Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, ex rel. Taxpayers, v. City of Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425, 437, it being declared that Jones v. Doonan, supra, was directly applicable. Pertinent decisions of the United States supreme court are in accord with the Michigan holding as indicated in the above cited cases.
As a matter of fact there is some authority to the effect that a municipal employee who asserts he has not been legally dismissed must move seasonably in asserting his continued claim to the office or his failure will result in an abandonment thereof. Jones v. Doonan, 265 Mich. 384; Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, ex rel. Taxpayers, v. City of Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425. Consistently therewith it has been held that the dismissal cannot be inquired into collaterally, but must be reversed in a direct proceeding therefor. Van Sant v. Atlantic City, 68 N.J.L. 449.
See, also, Sullivan v. State Board of Tax Administration, 290 Mich. 664; Philbrick v. Dust, 178 Mich. 605; and McComb v. Lansing City Council, 264 Mich. 609. Conversely we have held that acquiescence in an illegal discharge for an unreasonable length of time bars any right to compensation. See Jones v. Doonan, 265 Mich. 384, 388, 389; Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, ex rel. Taxpayers, v. City of Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425. That Michigan is not alone in this position see Phillips v. City of Boston, 150 Mass. 491 ( 23 N.E. 202); Peruzzin v. Test, 282 App. Div. 550 ( 125 N.Y.S.2d 353) ; 145 ALR 767, at 813; and 43 Am Jur, Public Officers, ยง 381, p 163. In this case we think appellants have each failed seasonably and diligently to lay the foundation for success in the instant appeal by their initial failure to protest or appeal their suspensions by appropriate action before the civil service commission.
rights effectively, and he loses his right to compensation or reinstatement by failing to take such action. U.S. ex rel. Arant v. Lane, 249 U.S. 367, 39 S.Ct. 293, 63 L.Ed. 650; Nicholas v. U.S., 257 U.S. 71, 42 S.Ct. 7, 66 L.Ed. 133; Norris v. U.S., 257 U.S. 77, 42 S.Ct. 9, 66 L.Ed. 136; State ex rel. Boudreaux v. Alford, 205 La. 46, 16 So.2d 901; State ex rel. Martin v. Alford, 203 La. 232, 13 So.2d 845; Renshaw v. State ex rel. Hickland, 149 Fla. 342, 5 So.2d 700; Landis ex rel. Quigg v. Reeve, 106 Fla. 28, 142 So. 654; Farley v. Abbetmeier, 72 App.D.C. 260, 114 F.2d 569; State ex rel. Smith v. Witter, 114 Ohio St. 357, 151 N.E. 192; Clark v. City of Chicago, 233 Ill. 113, 84 N.E. 170; Glori v. Police Comm'rs., 72 N.J.L. 131, 60 A. 47; Gorley v. Louisville, 108 Ky. 789, 55 S.W. 886; City of Tulsa v. Johnson, 196 Okl. 213, 163 P.2d 993, 163 A.L.R. 754; 10 Am.Jur. 78 (P.P. 1949); State ex rel. Ball v. Knoxville, 177 Tenn. 162, 147 S.W.2d 97, 145 A.L.R. 762; Notes 145 A.L.R. 767-813; Wayne County Pros. Atty. ex rel. Taxpayers v. Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425, 14 N.W.2d 53. Where one has been unlawfully removed from office which he was legally entitled to hold, the burden of proving a sufficient excuse for unreasonable delay in bringing action for salary accruing after such removal is upon the person removed. Folmar v. Brantley, 238 Ala. 681, 193 So. 122; Note 145 A.L.R. 804. Where preponderance of evidence against verdict is so decided as clearly to convince appellate court that it is wrong and unjust, the appellate court will reverse decision of trial court in refusing to grant new trial.
"The general purpose of the firemen's civil service act was to benefit the public by establishing a better-qualified personnel in the fire department and to protect its officers and employees from arbitrary and unjustifiable removal." Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney, ex rel. Taxpayers, v. City of Highland Park, 308 Mich. 425. This purpose, however, is also accomplished by the general civil service amendment to the Royal Oak city charter and the city ordinance enacted pursuant thereto.