City of Alexandria v. Alexandria Civil Service Commission

Opinion

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, THIRD CIRCUIT

07-1218

CITY OF ALEXANDRIA

VERSUS

ALEXANDRIA CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, ET AL.

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APPEAL FROM THE NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF RAPIDES, NO. 224,406 HONORABLE HARRY F. RANDOW, DISTRICT JUDGE

OSWALD A. DECUIR JUDGE

Court composed of Oswald A. Decuir, Jimmie C. Peters, and Marc T. Amy, Judges.

AFFIRMED.

Howard N. Nugent, Jr. Attorney at Law P. O. Box 1309 Alexandria, LA 71301-1309 (318) 445-3696 Counsel for Defendants/Appellants: Alexandria Civil Service Commission Gerald Allwell

Daphne R. Robinson Law Firm of Daphne R. Robinson 1501-A Wimbledon, Suite 126 Alexandria, LA 71301 (318) 487-8885 Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellee: City of Alexandria DECUIR, Judge.

The Alexandria Civil Service Commission appeals a judgment of the district

court overturning its decision granting Gerard Allwell an exception to its promulgated

rules related to accumulated leave. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS

Gerard Allwell worked for 29-1/2 years in the Utility Department for the City

of Alexandria and, having risen to the position of Director of Utilities, he was well

acquainted with the rules regarding accumulating unused leave. Consequently, when

the City sent a memo notifying employees that leave could only be taken if a qualified

replacement could fill in, he knew he had a problem. The Mayor had recently

relieved his immediate superiors of their duties, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had hit,

and the City was in the middle of building a multimillion-dollar power plant. Having

no suitable replacement, he could not take his leave and had already carried over the

maximum leave allowed by Civil Service rules. He realized he was going to lose his

time.

Nevertheless, after seeing the plant through to completion, Allwell requested

that the City grant him his unused leave or pay him for his time. The Mayor and the

City Council declined to do either, and Allwell appealed the decision to the

Alexandria Civil Service Commission. The Commission voted to give Allwell an

additional three weeks to use his time. The City of Alexandria appealed to the Ninth

Judicial District Court. The district court reversed the Commission and Allwell and

the Commission appealed to this court.

DISCUSSION

Allwell and the Commission argue that the district court erred in failing to

recognize the circumstances surrounding Allwell’s failure to take his leave which

warranted the Commission’s ruling to allow an exception to its rules. We disagree. It is evident from the record and the trial court’s reasons that the district court

was well aware of the unfortunate factual circumstances surrounding this case.

However, Rule XI, Section 1.4, of the Civil Service Rules, provides: “accumulated

vacation shall not exceed his current year’s credit plus one normal year of credit

carried over.” Civil Service Rules have the effect of law. La.Const. art. 10, §

10(A)(4); Bannister v. Dep’t of Streets, 95-404 (La. 1/16/96), 666 So.2d 641. The

trial court was aware of these factors and was constrained to apply the law as written.

A careful review of the record reveals that the Commission was also aware that

there was no exception to the rule and noted the need for an amendment to the rule

at a later date. Moreover, the record also reveals that Allwell was not the only City

employee that lost leave during this period. The City has argued that the Rule, as

written, is a financial stop gap provision to control the costs of employee leave and

that reinstating the Commission’s decision undermines that purpose. While there may

be merit to that argument, we need not decide the issue. It is evident that the

Commission’s decision was contrary to its own rules and as such constituted legal

error. Accordingly, we find no error in the trial court’s decision.

DECREE

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.