Honore v. Department of Public Works

178 So. 3d 1120, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0986, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2117, 2015 WL 6567666
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 29, 2015
DocketNo. 2014-CA-0986
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 178 So. 3d 1120 (Honore v. Department of Public Works) 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
Honore v. Department of Public Works, 178 So. 3d 1120, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0986, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2117, 2015 WL 6567666 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

SANDRA CABRINA JENKINS, Judge.

11 Trenika Hqnore appeals the Civil Service Commission’s decision denying the appeal of her termination as. a Parking Control Officer with permanent status by the Department of Public Works (the “Department”), the Appointing Authority. Upon review of the record, we affirm the Commission’s finding that the Department established legal cause for taking disciplinary action. Under the circumstances of this case, however, termination is an excessive disciplinary action not commensurate with the eomplained-of infraction. Consequently, we find the Commission abused its discretion by upholding Honore’s termination.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October-17, 2012, the Department sent notification to Honoré informing her she was being placed on emergency suspension for violating departmental policy and the Parking Division’s Code of Conduct when she refused to follow a directive from her supervisor, Carl Bridgewater,- on October 12, 2012. The notification stated that the incident on' October 12, 2012, “along with [her] documented poor work history,” is cause for “strong, disciplinary action;”1 and the Department may impose additional discipline pending a further investigation. The | ¡¡emergency suspension for one hundred. twenty (120) calendar days was effective as of the date of the letter, October 17,2012. ,

On December 12, 2012, the Department notified Honoré of a pre-termination hearing to consider her dismissal for violations of Civil Service Rüle IX, Section 1.1 and the Parking Division’s Code of Conduct stemming from the October 12, 2012 incident. The Department conducted the pre-termination hearing on January 9, 2013, and by letter dated January 14, 2013, the Department notified Honoré of her termination. Honoré timely filed an appeal of her termination-with the Commission.

The Commission appointed a hearing examiner to receive testimony and the hearing was held on March 21, 2013 and May Í6, 2013. The hearing examiner received testimony from eight witnesses, including Honoré, regarding the incident on October 12, 2012 and the events preceding the Department’s termination of Honoré. The testimony pertinent to this appeal is as follows.

Danielle Johnson testified that on October 12, 2012 she was a Parking Control [1124]*1124Officer assigned • to work the 3p.m. to 11p.m. shift with Honoré. During their shift, Johnson felt sick and called their supervisor, Bridgewater, on the dispatch radio to tell him she was sick and ask to go home. When Johnson called Bridgewater, he told her to return to the main office, to sign out and to give the keys to their department vehicle to Honoré for her to bring the vehicle back to the auto pound. Johnson testified that she understood that to mean Bridgewater would meet Honoré at the auto pound so they could work the balance of the shift together.

At this point, testimony regarding the October 12 incident diverges. Bridgewa-ter'testified that when he received the radio call from Johnson stating that she was sick, he approved her request to leave early; and he instructed Johnson to | spark the department truck in front of the office where he would pick up Honoré to-work the rest of the shift with her. Bridgewa-ter stated that the Department requires parking control officers to work in .groups of two during evening shifts for safety reasons. When Bridgewater arrived at the office he saw Johnson but. Honoré was not there with the truck. . Bridgewater tried to call Honoré twice on the dispatch radio, but she did not answer. He then successfully contacted Honoré on the “chirp” (a walkie-talkie function of certain cell phones). When he asked where she was, Honoré responded that she did not want to work with him. At that point, he told her to meet him at the auto pound.

Bridgewater testified that he-arrived at the auto pound and Honoré parked her department vehicle and got into the van with him. She told him again she did not want, to work with him and wanted to go home. Bridgewater testified that he began driving them to the office to fill out a statement on Honore’s refusal, to work. Honoré asked if he was bringing her to her car and he told her he was bringing her to the office first to fill out paperwork. Then while the van was stopped at a traffic light at the corner of Claiborne and Poy-dras, Honoré got out of the van and starting walking to where her personal vehiclé was parked. Bridgewater proceeded to drive to the office and waited outside for Honoré to arrive before going inside to write out his statement. Bridgewater’s statement, introduced at the hearing, is consistent with' his testimony regarding the incident. His statement noted Hon-ore’s failure to meet him at the office, failure, to communicate with him on the radio, and her refusal to work the rest of her shift with. him. His statement concluded with a recommendation that Hon-oré be suspended for her actions of that evening.

Bridgewater testified that Honoré never requested to go home sick that evening and he did not .know her reason for refusing to work with him. He also 1 ¿testified that Honoré did not report any injury to him, that he did not see Honoré injured in any way while exiting the van, and she did not appear injured when she arrived at the office. Bridgewater next saw Honoré at the meeting with department officials on October 16, 2012, at which time he learned of her claim that' she had been injured while getting out of his van.

By Honore’s account of events, she did not refuse to work the rest of her shift with Bridgewater and she followed the usual department protocols. She testified that after Johnson requested to leaye her shift early but prior to meeting Bridgewa-ter at the auto pound she contacted him on the “chirp” and told him she also was sick and wanted to go home. According to Honoré, Bridgewater only instructed her to meet him at the auto pound, which she did, and he brought her to her personal vehicle before going to the office to sign [1125]*1125out, as was customary. Then, as she was exiting the van, Bridgewater told her to get back in and started to drive while she had one foot out of the van. Honoré claims that Bridgewater drove about 5 feet before stopping and allowing her to completely get out of the van, causing injury to her foot and ankle. She then got into her own vehicle and drove to the office to fill out a statement about the incident. In her written statement, Honoré reported.that Bridgewater “almost dragged me along-with him and it was done on purpose because he did not want to bring me to my vehicle.”

Honoré testified that she. asked Bridge-water to bring her to the hospital because her ankle was hurting; but he refused. After she completed her written statement at the office, she went to Tulane Medical Center to have her ankle checked, out. Honoré introduced a discharge summary and after care instructions from Tulane Medical Center, dated October 12, 2012, referencing an ankle sprain injury. When asked whether she reported her injury to any of her supervisors in |Hthe chain of command other than Bridgewater, Honoré testified that she reported it to her immediate supervisor, Bridgewater, when it occurred and then reported it again when she returned to work and met with department officials on October 16,2012.

Zepporiah Edmonds, the Parking Administrator for the Department, testified regarding the meeting on October 16, 2012 and the subsequent disciplinary action taken against Honoré.

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Bluebook (online)
178 So. 3d 1120, 2014 La.App. 4 Cir. 0986, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 2117, 2015 WL 6567666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/honore-v-department-of-public-works-lactapp-2015.