Boucher v. Doyal

210 So. 2d 75
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 8, 1968
Docket7338
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 210 So. 2d 75 (Boucher v. Doyal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boucher v. Doyal, 210 So. 2d 75 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

210 So.2d 75 (1968)

Robert R. BOUCHER et al.
v.
F. C. DOYAL, Jr., Administrator, Division of Employment Security, Department of Labor, State of Louisiana et al.

No. 7338.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 8, 1968.
Rehearing Denied May 27, 1968.

*77 Marion Weimer, Melvin L. Bellar and James A. Piper, Baton Rouge, for defendant Doyal etc.

Louis A. Quinn, Baton Rouge, for W. W. McDougall, Director of Personnel.

James J. Morrison, New Orleans, for appellees.

Before LANDRY, REID and BAILES, JJ.

LANDRY, Judge.

These appeals by defendants, F. C. Doyal, Jr., Administrator, Division of Employment Security, Department of Labor, State of Louisiana, (Administrator), A. P. Tugwell, Treasurer, State of Louisiana (Treasurer) and W. W. McDougall, Director of Personnel, Department of State Civil Service, State of Louisiana (Director), are from the judgment of the trial court awarding back pay to three civil service employees, Robert R. Boucher, Jules R. Gueymard and Ancil C. Wilkinson, pursuant to our decree in the former action between these same parties, namely, Boucher et al. v. Division of Employment Security, La.App., 169 So.2d 674, wherein we held plaintiffs were illegally discharged from their respective positions with the Division of Employment Security, State of Louisiana.

Our former decree ordered Boucher and Wilkinson reinstated with wages or salaries due from October 29, 1954 to March 1, 1965, in accordance with law. Since Mr. Gueymard died on January 23, 1963, his widow and testamentary executrix (Ethel Dickinson Gueymard) was allotted back pay from October 29, 1954, through January 23, 1963, in accordance with law. The Administrator's application for writs in the former action was denied in a per curiam opinion of the Supreme Court, see Boucher v. Division of Employment Security, Department of Labor, 247 La. 356, 171 So.2d 476, wherein the higher authority affirmed our previous decree with reservation of the right of defendants-appellants to offset "all wages and salaries earned by the employees in private employment in the period of separation * * * and to invoke and urge Civil Service Rule No. 13.18(b)."

Upon the finality of the previous action, plaintiffs instituted the present suit to determine the precise amount of back pay due. By agreement of all parties, a judgment was entered below fixing a certain amount of undisputed back wages due each employee. The matter then went to trial on the remaining amounts in controversy resulting in judgment awarding the respective employees back pay during the hereinabove mentioned intervals.

*78 The salient facts are either admitted or stipulated. It is conceded by all concerned that only certain novel questions of law are presented by the appeal at hand.

We believe a clearer understanding of the numerous issues involved herein will result from a brief presentation of the assignments of errors made by the respective parties.

The lower court held that certain continuances granted by the Civil Service Commission (Commission), during the pendency of plaintiffs' appeals, commencing January 19, 1956, were not allowed pursuant to Commission Rule 13.18(b), which in effect provides that a reinstated employee shall not be awarded compensation for time lost while a continuation of his appeal remains in force with the consent of all parties concerned. Rather the lower court ruled the disputed continuances were granted in accordance with Commission Rule 13.18(c) which in substance provides for continuances during which no forfeiture of lost time is involved.

The trial court also held that certain commissions earned by plaintiff Wilkinson as a real estate and insurance salesman between October 29, 1954 and May 31, 1960, were not "wages and salaries" within the meaning of LSA-R.S. 49:113 and therefore not subject to offset against his claim for lost time.

Regarding the claim of decedent Gueymard, the trial court held his entitlement to wages between his dismissal on October 29, 1954, and death on January 23, 1963, was res judicata by virtue of our former decree. On this basis the lower court concluded that Gueymard's voluntary retirement on March 19, 1958, did not affect his heirs' right to recover the wages he lost between the date of his said retirement and his death on January 23, 1963.

Additionally, the lower court held plaintiffs were entitled to interest on all wages due from the date of discharge, namely, October 29, 1954.

Appellants make the following basic contentions of error: (1) Certain continuances of plaintiffs' appeals before the commission commencing January 19, 1956, should be decreed to be in pursuance of Commission Rule 13.18(b) and the duration thereof deducted from the period during which appellants may be awarded back pay; (2) The commissions earned by appellee Wilkinson as a real estate and insurance salesman are "wages and salaries" within the meaning of the terms as included in LSA-R.S. 49:113 and properly subject to offset against back pay due said employee; (3) The trial court improperly allowed the legal representative of decedent Gueymard back pay during the interval between decedent's voluntary retirement and death which events transpired March 19, 1958, and January 23, 1963, respectively, and (4) Interest on the back pay due appellees is not recoverable in any amount whatsoever inasmuch as defendant employer, Administrator, is a state agency against whom interest may not be awarded in the absence of express statutory authority.

Plaintiffs have answered these appeals complaining that the lower court erred in holding LSA-R.S. 49:113 constitutional instead of declaring it unconstitutional in violation of La.Const. Art. 14, Section 15(I) (c), the Civil Service Amendment. On this basis it is contended first that the trial court improvidently applied the statute in question to allow offset of wages admittedly earned by plaintiff Boucher as a construction worker during a portion of the term of his dismissal. Counsel next argues that the unconstitutionality of the statute makes it unnecessary for the court to determine whether commissions fall within the ambit of the terms "wages and salaries" as applied to the claim of plaintiff Wilkinson. Alternatively, it is urged that if the aforesaid offset of wages statute is constitutional, it is not retroactive and therefore cannot be invoked, as did the trial court to offset wages earned by Wilkinson and Boucher prior to the effective date of the law.

*79 Appellees also maintain that Commission Rule 13.18(b) was wrongfully applied herein by the trial court to Wilkinson's claim because his reinstatement was judicially ordered with back pay. Alternatively, it is argued that application of the rule in a judicial proceeding is unconstitutional in that it (1) contravenes the separation of governmental powers provision contained in Louisiana Constitution Article 1, Sections 1 and 2; and (2) it is also violative of La.Const. Art. 14, Sec. 15(O) (1). It is further contended the trial court's aforesaid application of the rule in question is contrary to the declarations of the Supreme Court in Dickson v. Richardson, 236 La. 668, 109 So.2d 51. Finally, appellees urge Rule 13.18(b) was wrongfully applied by the trial court to the period April 11, 1955 to January 19, 1956, whereas its pertinency terminated July 19, 1955, inasmuch as all continuances granted thereafter were pursuant to Rule 13.18 (c), which contains no provision for forfeiture of lost time claims.

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210 So. 2d 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boucher-v-doyal-lactapp-1968.