(a)

(1) Contested case hearings by civil service boards of a county or municipality which affect the employment status of a civil service employee shall be conducted in conformity with contested case procedures under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, part 3.

(2) The provisions of subdivision (a)(1) pertaining to hearings by civil service boards shall not apply to municipal utilities boards or civil service boards of counties organized under a home rule charter form of government.

(b)

(1) Judicial review of decisions by civil service boards of a county or municipality which affects the employment status of a county or city civil service employee shall be in conformity with the judicial review standards under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, § 4-5-322.

(2) Petitions for judicial review of decisions by a city or county civil service board affecting the employment status of a civil service employee shall be filed in the chancery court of the county wherein the local civil service board is located.

(3) In any appeal pursuant to this section deemed by the court to be frivolous, the sanctions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 11 may be applied by the chancellors.

(c) This section shall not apply to the benefit board of any county having a metropolitan form of government that has a population in excess of five hundred thousand (500,000), or to the benefit board of any county having a population in excess of eight hundred thousand (800,000), both according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census. This subsection (c) shall have no effect in any county unless it is approved by a resolution adopted by a two-thirds (⅔) vote of the legislative body of any county to which this subsection (c) applies. The approval or nonapproval of this subsection (c) shall be proclaimed by the presiding officer of the legislative body and certified to the secretary of state.