State, Ex Rel. LanFranchi v. Summit County Board of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities

545 N.E.2d 1308, 46 Ohio App. 3d 71, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 779
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 9, 1988
Docket13222
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 545 N.E.2d 1308 (State, Ex Rel. LanFranchi v. Summit County Board of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State, Ex Rel. LanFranchi v. Summit County Board of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities, 545 N.E.2d 1308, 46 Ohio App. 3d 71, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 779 (Ohio Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Mahoney, J.

Judy LanFranchi (“LanFranchi”) appeals from an order of the trial court dismissing her petition for a writ of mandamus. We reverse and remand.

Facts

The facts giving rise to this controversy have previously been discussed by this court in State, ex rel. LanFranchi, v. Summit Cty. Bd. of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities (May 8, 1985), Summit App. No. 11947, unreported. Briefly, LanFranchi is employed by the Summit County Board of Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (“board of retardation”) as a school intake evaluator. In 1980, LanFranchi requested that the board of retardation recognize her status as a full-time employee and grant her paid vacation and holidays. The board of retardation implicitly denied this request and Lan-Franchi appealed to the State Personnel Board of Review (“board of review”).

The board of review disaffirmed the board of retardation’s action and found LanFranchi to be a full-time employee. The board of retardation refused to reclassify LanFranchi, resulting in LanFranchi’s petition for mandamus now in controversy. 1 Following this court’s previous remand, LanFranchi, supra, the trial court conducted a hearing and reviewed legal memoranda submitted by the parties. In an order dated May 26, 1987, the trial court held that the board of review lacked jurisdiction to hear LanFranchi’s appeal and, consequently, its ruling was without legal effect. The trial court then dismissed LanFranchi’s petition. This appeal followed.

Assignments of Error

“I. The trial court erred in implicitly holding that it had the authority and jurisdiction to examine the Board of Review’s final order, as though said order had been and could be appealed by the Summit County Board.

“II. The trial court erred in dismissing relator’s appeal to the Board of Review and in failing to issue a peremptory writ of mandamus.

“HI. The trial court’s order dismissing the complaint [is] against the manifest weight of the evidence.

“IV. The trial court’s implicit and/or explicit finding that relator had *73 not timely appealed her reduction in pay [is] against the manifest weight of the evidence.

“V. The trial court erred in considering subsequent, unrelated decisions by the board of review in dismissing relator’s complaint.”

It is well-settled that in order for a writ of mandamus to issue, the relator must demonstrate that it “has a clear legal right to the relief prayed for, that the respondent is under a clear legal duty to perform the requested act, and that relator has no plain and adequate remedy at law.” State, ex rel. Bassman, v. Earhart (1985), 18 Ohio St. 3d 182, 183, 18 OBR 250, 251, 480 N.E. 2d 761, 762.

In the case sub judice, the trial court held that the board of retardation was under no clear legal duty to abide by the terms of the board of review’s order. This holding was based upon the trial court’s erroneous determination that LanFranchi failed to file her action with the board of review in a timely fashion.

The time limits for filing appeals to the board of review are set forth in Ohio Adm. Code 124-1-03. 2 At the time that LanFranchi filed her appeal, this section provided:

“124-1-03 Time limits for filing appeals.
“(A) Except as set forth below, appeals from ‘section 124.34 orders’ shall be filed, in writing, not more than ten calendar days after the filing of an order with the state personnel board of review. If a ‘section 124.34 order’ is received by an employee after it is filed with the state personnel board of review, the time for filing an appeal begins to run from the date of receipt by the affected employee, not from the date of filing with the state personnel board of review.
“(B) Appeals from layoffs, job abolishments and transfers shall be filed, in writing, not more than ten calendar days after the effective date of the action.
“(C) Appeals of all other actions shall be filed with the state personnel board of review not more than thirty calendar days after receipt, by the affected party, of written notification of the action.
“(D) If an appointing authority fails to file an order or provide an employee with written notice, the affected employee shall file an appeal within thirty calendar days of the time he has actual notice of the action.”

The propriety of the administrative law judge’s finding that LanFran-chi filed her appeal in a timely fashion will turn upon the type of appeal that LanFranchi was prosecuting. The administrative law judge determined that LanFranchi’s appeal was governed by Ohio Adm. Code 124-1-03(C). We agree.

LanFranchi contends that she suffered a “reduction in pay” due to the board of retardation’s failure to consider her a “full-time employee” as defined in R.C. 325.19(G)(1). Such employees are entitled to paid vacations and holidays pursuant to R.C. 325.19(A). Although LanFranchi appears to agree that she was not entitled to such benefits at the time that she was hired, she contends that she became entitled to such when the Ohio Legislature amended the definition of “full-time employee” contained in R.C. 325.19(G)(1), effective May 13, 1980.

LanFranchi’s alleged “reduction in pay” did not result from any disci *74 plinary proceeding pursuant to R.C. 124.34. Consequently, Ohio Adm. Code 124-1-03(A) is inapplicable to LanFran-chi’s appeal. Since there is no indication that LanFranchi had actual notice of the board of retardation’s denial of her request prior to receiving her written notice, Ohio Adm. Code 124-1-03 (D) is inapplicable. The board of retardation never filed any “order” with the board of review so as to “trigger” Lan-Franchi’s right of appeal. Therefore, the “catch-all” provision of Ohio Adm. Code 124-1-03(C) contained the time limitation applicable to LanFranchi’s appeal. Thus, LanFranchi was required to file her appeal to the board of review within thirty calendar days after she received written notification of the board of retardation’s rejection of her request for paid vacations and holidays.

In his report and recommendation to the board of review, Administrative Law Judge John S. Jones addressed this precise issue and stated:

“The appellee contends that the appellant’s appeal was not timely filed since it was not within thirty (30) days of any action by the appointing authority reducing her in pay. I agree. As of October 24,1980, the appellant had not requested or been denied vacation leave nor had the appointing authority taken any particular action which could have put the appellant on notice that she would receive a reduction in pay.
“However, the appellant did ask, in September, 1980, that she be considered a full-time employee. In November, 1980, the superintendent of the appointing authority implicitly denied the appellant’s request.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
545 N.E.2d 1308, 46 Ohio App. 3d 71, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-lanfranchi-v-summit-county-board-of-mental-retardation-ohioctapp-1988.