Garavalia v. City of Stillwater

168 N.W.2d 336, 283 Minn. 335, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1158, 71 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2144
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 9, 1969
Docket40308, 40489
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 168 N.W.2d 336 (Garavalia v. City of Stillwater) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Garavalia v. City of Stillwater, 168 N.W.2d 336, 283 Minn. 335, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1158, 71 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2144 (Mich. 1969).

Opinions

Nelson, Justice.

Plaintiffs, Louis Garavalia, John Zoller, Arnold Peltier, Leonard Schrode, Roy Edstrom, and James Tibbetts, brought this action in the Washington County District Court for a declaratory judgment establishing their status as employees of defendant city of Stillwater; to compel the city and the other defendants, the city administrator, the mayor, and the members of the city council, to reinstate plaintiffs as members of the city’s fire department; and to enjoin defendants from appointing other persons to plaintiffs’ positions. A temporary restraining order was issued upon the commencement of the action, which the court subsequently vacated upon the ground that under Minn. St. c. 185 it had no jurisdiction to issue such an order prior to hearing testimony in open court.

After trial the court found the following facts: On July 1, 1965, all of the plaintiffs were employees of defendant city’s fire department and were directly supervised by its chief, John Lawson, who was by the city charter in charge of the department and answerable to the city council. The council had the right to hire and fire members of the fire department, subject to compliance with the laws of the State of Minnesota.

Plaintiffs Zoller, Peltier, Edstrom, and Tibhetts are war veterans as defined in the Veterans Preference Act and are entitled to the protection of Minn. St. 197.46, which prohibits removal from employment without a hearing. No written charges were made by the city council against these veterans and no hearing was provided in connection with the termination of their employment.

Prior to January 1, 1965, plaintiffs were dissatisfied with their wages and working conditions and voiced their grievances to the fire chief, city administrator, and members of the council without substantial results. A [337]*337new pay and working schedule was put into effect for 1965 resulting in little, if any, actual raise in compensation to the plaintiffs, and on December 31, 1964, the fire department employees designated plaintiffs Zoller and Garavalia as their representatives to negotiate a change in working hours and compensation. Thereafter requests for meeting were made, culminating in the appointment of an adjustment panel pursuant to Minn. St. 179.57, which held hearings in May 1965, and on May 17, 1965, made findings as follows:

“There is a lack of communication between the Fire Department and City Administrator. This is caused by the lack of time the City has had an administrator and the briefing the Fire Department receives from the Chief.

“Wage and working conditions proposals of the Fire Department are presented too late in the year to receive the proper consideration in the budget.

“The Police Department is receiving $6,600.00 less per year as a result of the additional monies saved by the City with two fewer policemen on the force.”

The panel recommended that meetings be established between elected representatives of the fire department and the city, the number of meetings to be controlled by the importance of the subject matter to be discussed; that fire department budget meetings be conducted before August 1 of each year or as soon thereafter as practical; that a set of comprehensible work rules be posted in the fire station at all times; that the $6,600 savings to the city be divided on the basis of $30 per month wage increase to the firemen and $40 per month increase to the policemen; and that the representatives of the fire department meet with the public employer as soon as possible to determine whether the city could grant the suggested increase at that time. The council, however, made no move toward acting upon the recommendations, and discussions between the city administrator and plaintiffs Zoller and Garavalia effected no change.

On June 30, 1965, plaintiffs held a meeting at which they expressed their intention to “quit” at 7 p. m., July 1, unless “something was done” [338]*338with regard to wages and working conditions, and they so advised a member of the council. However, no action was taken July 1 and in fact plaintiffs worked at a fire that evening. Prior to July 2, plaintiffs had informed the fire chief of their intention to “walk off” their jobs, as a demonstration of their demands, and informed him that they would respond to siren calls. On the morning of July 2, plaintiffs Zoller and Peltier, who were on duty, walked off their jobs about 10:30 a. m. Plaintiff Garavalia was not on duty, being scheduled for report at 8 a. m. on July 3, but was present when the walkout took place and stated that he was through arguing and would stay with the decision to walk off until the employees’ demands were met. Garavalia theretofore had advised the city administrator and the fire chief of his intention to walk off the job, and he did not report for work on July 3 or thereafter except to cover or offer to answer fire siren calls.

On July 2, after advice of the “walkout,” the city administrator called plaintiff Schrode and asked what his plans were in regard to reporting for work. He was informed by Schrode that “I am definitely with the men.” The council thereupon met and authorized the administrator to advise all plaintiffs: “Your employment as a fireman was terminated this morning at 10 a. m. when you informed the City Administrator that you were quitting and left your duties unattended.” Such letters were typed and mailed at the end of the day on July 2 and were received by plaintiffs on July 3 or later. For about two months after July 2, some of the plaintiffs did report to the fire station when the fire siren sounded and on one or two occasions actually participated in fire runs. Plaintiffs also contacted the city administrator and council members and requested their jobs back but were refused. New firemen were employed by the city in due course and in the meantime fire protection was also contracted for with neighboring villages.

The court found also that the walkout of all the fire department employees seriously affected the safety of the city, in that no one would be at the station to receive fire and emergency calls, and that the coordinated action of the plaintiffs constituted a strike or walkout in violation of Minn. St. 179.51 and 179.54. It found that both plaintiffs Garavalia and Schrode, who, though they were not on duty on the morning of July 2, [339]*3391965, stated without equivocation that they were in accord with the pronounced intention of all the plaintiffs to “walk off the job” and that they were through until their demands were met, had thus joined in and were a part of the concerted, planned action of all the plaintiffs on July 2, 1965; that the discharge of plaintiffs Garavalia and Schrode came as a result of their participation in an unlawful walkout and not as a result of their union membership or their activity in submitting their grievances to the city council or its subordinates; and that by their action they abandoned their employment with the city. The court concluded that plaintiffs Garavalia and Schrode were discharged for reasonable cause and their employment with the city of Stillwater was terminated effective July 2, 1965. It determined, however, that plaintiffs Zoller, Peltier, Edstrom, and Tibbetts “were discharged from their employment without being afforded their statutory right to a hearing and they are therefore entitled to immediate reinstatement with compensation payable from the date of their discharge, subject to any mitigation of damages under principles customarily applied in breach of employment contracts.”

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Garavalia v. City of Stillwater
168 N.W.2d 336 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
168 N.W.2d 336, 283 Minn. 335, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1158, 71 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garavalia-v-city-of-stillwater-minn-1969.