Indiana State Employees Appeal Commission v. Bishop

721 N.E.2d 881, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2195, 1999 WL 1244510
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 19, 1999
DocketNo. 49A02-9810-CV-818
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 721 N.E.2d 881 (Indiana State Employees Appeal Commission v. Bishop) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indiana State Employees Appeal Commission v. Bishop, 721 N.E.2d 881, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2195, 1999 WL 1244510 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

RILEY, Judge

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellants-Respondents the Indiana State Employees’ Appeals Commission (“Commission”), State Personnel Department and Rockville Training Center (collectively “State”), appeal the judgment of the trial court awarding Appellees-Peti-tioners, Judith Bishop (“Bishop”) and Sara Harpold (“Harpold”) (collectively “Petitioners”), back pay from their respective dates of hire and reversing the findings of the Commission.

We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

ISSUES

The State raises three issues on appeal which we consolidate and restate as:

1. Whether the trial court erred in finding that Harpold timely filed her employee complaint.
2. Whether the trial court erred in finding that Petitioners were entitled to back pay for a period greater than ten days prior to the date they filed their respective complaints.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Bishop was hired as a Clerk-Typist on June 18, 1990, at the Rockville Training Center. She completed her working test period and obtained regular employee status in the state merit service on December 18, 1990. On January 12, 1992, Bishop filed her complaint pursuant to Ind.Code § 4-15-2-35.

Harpold was hired as a store clerk on January 21, 1992, at the Rockville Training Center. She completed her working test period and obtained regular employee status in the state merit service on July 21, 1992. On March 8, 1993, Harpold filed her complaint pursuant to Ind.Code § 4-15-2-35.

In their complaints, the Petitioners alleged that the State’s compensation plan was discriminatory because Petitioners were required to work forty (40) hours per week while similarly situated employees were only required to work thirty-seven an one half (37.5) hours per week for the same weekly salary.

On October 31, 1995, the Commission ruled on Petitioners’ complaints. The Commission found the following:

10. That the State of Indiana changed the hours of work of all state employees (except police employees) to 37.5 hours per week on September 12, 1993....
16. That on September 26, 1991 the Indiana Court of Appeals issued its decision in the Arden judicial review. In light of 31 IAC 2-4-2[sic], it disapproved the distinction of hours of work between state offices and state institutions in favor of making hours of work consistent within a classification of employees doing comparable work, regardless of the location at which that work was performed. Arden, et al. v. SEAC, et al, 578 N.E.2d 769 (Ind. [sic] App.1991) trans. denied (1992).
19. That the Arden decision distinguished between two types of employees: Group A employees were those who were overtime-eligible according to the provisions of State Personnel Department Rule 11-2, promulgated at 31 IAC 2 — 11—2[sic]; Group B employees were overtime-[883]*883exempt according to the provisions of that rule.
22. That Petitioners are Group A employees for purposes of the analysis in the Arden decision.
27. That at the time she initiated this complaint, Petitioner Bishop was working 40 hours/week for the same salary that other Clerk-Typist 4s1 were receiving while working 37.5 hour/week.
38. That Petitioner Harpold worked 40 hours/week at all times during her employment at Rockville Training Center until September 12, 1993 when the hours of work for all employees (except police employees) were changed to 37.5 hours/week.

(R. 287-290).

The Commission found that Harpold did not timely file her complaint. Because Harpold’s complaint was not timely filed, the Commission did not award Harpold any back pay. However, the Commission found that Bishop’s complaint was timely filed and awarded Bishop back pay at a rate of .0667 times her weekly salary from January 7, 1992, ten days before she filed her complaint, to September 12, 1993, the date the State abandoned its discriminatory pay practices.

The trial court subsequently ruled that the Commission’s findings were arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law and not supported by substantial evidence. The trial court found that Harpold’s complaint was timely filed and that the award of back pay to Petitioners should extend to the date of their respective hiring.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Standard of Revieiu

When reviewing the decision of an administrative agency, both the trial court and the appellate court are bound by the agency’s findings of fact. Taylor v. Indiana Family and Social Services Admin., 699 N.E.2d 1186, 1189 (Ind.Ct.App.1998). Therefore, we may not retry the facts or substitute our judgment on factual matters for that of the agency. Id. This court’s review of an agency’s decision may go no further than to examine the propriety of the facts as the agency found them and the propriety of the agency’s order in light of the facts found. Id. Questions of law are questions for the courts, therefore we review them de novo. Indiana State Employees’ Appeals Commission v. Greene, 716 N.E.2d 54 (Ind.Ct.App.1999).

Timeliness of Harpold’s Complaint

The State argues that Harpold’s complaint, initiating the administrative action, was not timely filed. State Personnel Department Rule 13-1(A) provides:

[T]he complaint procedure shall be initiated as soon as possible after the occurrence of the act or condition complained of and in no event shall be initiated more than ten (10) calendar days after the employee is notified of a change in his status of employment or after an unsatisfactory condition of employment is created. Failure to initiate the complaint procedure within such time period shall render the complaint procedure unavailable to the employee.

Ind. Admin. Code tit. 31 r. 2-13-l(A).2 The State argues that the condition complained of, the requirement that Harpold work forty hours per week, was the result of a one time event that began with Har-pold’s employment at the Rockville Training Center. The State contends that because Harpold did not file her complaint [884]*884within ten days of the condition or occurrence, her claim is waived. We disagree.

In United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, an employee was dismissed pursuant to company policy, when she married. United Air Lines, Inc. v. Evans, 431 U.S. 553, 555, 97 S.Ct. 1885, 52 L.Ed.2d 571 (1977). The company policy that resulted in the Evans employee’s termination was found to be in violation of Title VII, in Sprogis v. United Air Lines,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
721 N.E.2d 881, 1999 Ind. App. LEXIS 2195, 1999 WL 1244510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indiana-state-employees-appeal-commission-v-bishop-indctapp-1999.