Plaisance v. City of Lafayette

651 So. 2d 414, 1995 WL 81964
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 1995
DocketNo. 94-1178
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 651 So. 2d 414 (Plaisance v. City of Lafayette) 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
Plaisance v. City of Lafayette, 651 So. 2d 414, 1995 WL 81964 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

JiSAUNDERS, Judge.

This is an appeal by Preston Plaisance, plaintiff-appellant, from the district court judgment affirming the decision of the City of Lafayette’s Civil Service Board. The Civil Service Board upheld the termination of Plai-sance’s employment with the City of Lafayette. We affirm.

FACTS

Plaisance was employed as a meter reader with the City of Lafayette’s Department of Utilities for approximately sixteen years and as such, was classified as a tenured civil servant.

On March 7, 1985, a complaint was lodged against Plaisance with the City of Lafayette by Bill Begnaud, the owner of a local automotive repair shop, alleging |2that Plaisance had threatened to tamper with his electrical meters.1 After receiving this complaint, Plai-sance was confronted with the allegation by his supervisor, Jim Hanehey. Plaisance denied making any such threats.

Investigating these allegations further, Hanehey went to Begnaud’s place of business where he soon learned of additional allegations of wrong-doing on the part of Plaisance. Hanehey was shown three green meter seals and told that they were given to an employee, Charles Jacobs, by Plaisance with instructions on how to use the seals to alter the meter reading. The City of Lafayette had instituted a program whereby the green meter seals were put on the electric meters to prevent tampering. These seals would allow a meter reader to detect that a meter reading had been altered and thereby prevent electricity consumers from defrauding the City.

Hanehey took the seals back to his office and compared the numbers on them to the sign out sheets that were kept for the seals. These records showed that the seals had been checked out to Preston Plaisance.

Due to the seriousness of these allegations and his initial findings, Hanehey notified David Warren, Associate Director of Utilities for Administration.

On March 11, 1985, Plaisance was called into a meeting with Warren and Hanehey in Warren’s office. He was informed of the identity of the complainants, the content of the allegations, the subsequent discovery of the seals including the fact that they had been cheeked out to him, and he was given an opportunity to respond. Plaisance did not offer any explanation or response. Two hours later, he received a written notice of termination which included the reasons for his discharge.

laPlaisance appealed his termination to the City of Lafayette Civil Service Board. On June 12, 1985, a full evidentiary hearing was held at which Plaisance was represented by counsel and allowed to offer evidence and cross-examine witnesses. If his discharge was found to have been unwarranted, the Civil Service Board had the authority to remedy the situation by restoring Plaisance to his position with back pay. However, the Civil Service Board upheld the termination of his employment.

Plaisance then requested judicial review of the Civil Service Board’s decision pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, La.R.S. 49:950, et seq., and the regulations governing the Municipal Government Employee Civil Service Board. The 15th Judicial District Court affirmed the decision of the Civil Service Board. In its written reasons for judgment dated June 27, 1994, the district court specifically found that the termination of Plaisance’s employment satisfied the due process requirements as set forth in Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 105 S.Ct. 1487, 84 L.Ed.2d 494 (1985), and that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Plaisance did transfer the meter seals to an unauthorized person.

Plaisance appeals the decision of the district court as to its conclusion regarding procedural due process.

[416]*416 PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS

Plaisance contends that the district court erred in finding that the City of Lafayette did not violate his procedural due process rights when they discharged him. He maintains that the pretermination notice and hearing were insufficient to meet the minimum constitutional requirements.

| JAW

Tenured or classified civil servant status is recognized as a property right under the Louisiana Constitution and cannot be deprived without due process of law. Bell v. Department of Health and Human Resources, 483 So.2d 945 (La.), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 827, 107 S.Ct. 105, 93 L.Ed.2d 55 (1986). However, due process is a flexible standard and calls for such procedural protections as the particular situation demands. Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972).

Due process requires “some kind of a hearing” prior to the termination of an employee with a constitutionally protected property interest in his employment. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972). However, the pretermination hearing does not have to be elaborate; nor does it have to definitively resolve the propriety of the discharge. Rather it should be a preliminary determination of whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the charges against the employee are true and thereby act as a initial check against mistaken decisions. Louder-mill, supra, citing Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 91 S.Ct. 1586, 29 L.Ed.2d 90 (1971).

Loudermill involved the termination of two classified civil service employees and posed the question of whether their due process rights had been violated. The United States Supreme Court held that all the process that is due is provided by a pretermination opportunity to respond, coupled with post-termination administrative procedures. In reaching this conclusion, the court noted that the essential requirements of due process are notice and an opportunity to respond. Specifically, in the employment situation, a tenured public employee is entitled to oral or written notice of the charges against him, an explanation of the employer’s 15evidence, and an opportunity to present his side of the story. Loudermill, supra, citing Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974).

In Wilson v. City of New Orleans, 479 So.2d 891 (La.1985), the Louisiana Supreme Court noted that the United States Supreme Court has held that hearings which take place after the government action, when combined with other safeguards, will suffice. See Arnett v. Kennedy, supra, (termination of government employment).

Neither party disputes Plaisance’s status as a tenured civil servant, nor that as such he is entitled to the protections of due process whenever the status of his employment is an issue. Therefore, the question before us is whether the City of Lafayette complied with the requirements of due process in Plai-sance’s termination proceedings.

Applying the above principles to the facts of this ease, we find that Plaisance received all the process that he was due. He was informed on March 7, 1985, that a complaint had been lodged against him alleging that he had threatened a consumer with tampering with his electric meters.

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651 So. 2d 414, 1995 WL 81964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plaisance-v-city-of-lafayette-lactapp-1995.