State ex rel. McDowell County Correctional Officers' Ass'n v. Yeager

387 S.E.2d 837, 182 W. Va. 370, 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1041, 1989 W. Va. LEXIS 254
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1989
DocketNo. 18865
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 387 S.E.2d 837 (State ex rel. McDowell County Correctional Officers' Ass'n v. Yeager) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. McDowell County Correctional Officers' Ass'n v. Yeager, 387 S.E.2d 837, 182 W. Va. 370, 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1041, 1989 W. Va. LEXIS 254 (W. Va. 1989).

Opinion

WORKMAN, Justice:

This case is before the Court upon the appeal of Earl Yeager, Sheriff of McDowell County, from a September 29,1988, amended order of the Circuit Court of McDowell County which granted a writ of mandamus directing that the personnel1 at the McDowell County Jail be given time off on the days designated as legal holidays under the provisions of W.Va.Code § 2-2-1 (1985) or, in the alternative, payment at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay on those legal holidays listed in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1. The appellant’s only assignment of error is whether the writ of mandamus should have been issued against the Sheriff and the McDowell County Commission (hereinafter called County Commission). We find that the writ was improperly granted and reverse the decision of the circuit court.

The appellees filed a petition for writ of mandamus on November 24, 1987. The petition alleged that the appellees were entitled to have the legal holidays listed in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1 off from work or alternate time off. The petition further alleged that if the appellees were required to work on one of the legal holidays and were not given compensatory time off, they should be compensated at one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. The appellees asked the court to order the Sheriff to pay them for all holidays which they had worked in the past at a rate of one and one-half times their regular rates of pay.

The lower court ruled that the correctional officers have a clear legal right to the benefit of the holidays enumerated in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1 and that the Sheriff and County Commission have a clear legal duty to give the correctional officers the benefit of the statutorily enumerated holidays, either as time off with pay, as compensatory time, or as monetary compensation at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay. The court then ordered that the correctional officers be compensated in accordance with the ruling from July 1, 1985, to July 1, 1988, a period of three years, and that the Sheriff and County Commission should thereafter give the ap-pellees the benefit of all holidays enumerated in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1. The monetary [372]*372amount of the judgment was $43,447.92, plus interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum starting July 1,1988, until paid, and costs of the action.

In order for a writ of mandamus to issue, the following three elements must co-exist: “(1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the relief sought; (2) a clear legal duty on the part of respondent to do the thing which the petitioner seeks to compel; and (3) the absence of another adequate remedy.” Syl. Pt. 1, in part, Allen v. State Human Rights Comm’n, 174 W.Va. 139, 324 S.E.2d 99, 101 (1984) citing Syl. Pt. 2, State ex rel. Kucera v. City of Wheeling, 153 W.Va. 538, 170 S.E.2d 367 (1969).

The issue in this case is whether there exists a clear legal right on the part of the correctional officers, food handlers, cooks and janitors to either time off or payment at the rate of one and one-half times the regular rates of pay for the work' they perform on the legal holidays listed in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1. The appellant contends that the lower court erred when it found that W.Va.Code § 2-2-1 provided that all state employees shall be given certain enumerated holidays off thus giving the appellees a clear legal right to the benefit of those holidays. The appellees argue that W.Va.Code § 2-2-1, in conjunction with the Standard Operating Procedure, “Rules and Regulations” (hereinafter called Standard Operating Procedures ), used by the McDowell County Jail entitled them to either time off for the holidays or compensation.

Whether a group of employees is entitled to holiday pay is determined by statute or a collective bargaining agreement. See Pullano v. City of Bluefield, 176 W.Va. 198, 342 S.E.2d 164, 167 n. 4 (1986). The statute ultimately relied upon by the appellees for their holiday pay is W.Va.Code § 2-2-1 which provides:

The following days shall be regarded, treated and observed as legal holidays, viz: The first day of January, commonly called ‘New Year’s Day’; the third Monday of January, commonly called ‘Martin Luther King’s Birthday’; the twelfth day of February, commonly called ‘Lincoln’s Birthday’; the third Monday of February, commonly called ‘Washington’s Birthday’; the last Monday in May, commonly called ‘Memorial Day’; the twentieth day of June, commonly called ‘West Virginia Day’; the fourth day of July, commonly called ‘Independence Day’; the first Monday of September, commonly called ‘Labor Day’; the second Monday of October, commonly called ‘Columbus Day’; the eleventh day of November, hereafter referred to as ‘Veteran’s Day’; the fourth Thursday of November, commonly called ‘Thanksgiving Day’; the twenty-fifth day of December, commonly called ‘Christmas Day’, any national, state or other election day throughout the district or municipality wherein the election is held; and all days which may be appointed or recommended by the governor of this state, or the president of the United States, as days of thanksgiving, or for the general cessation of business; and when any of these days or dates falls on a Sunday, then the succeeding Monday shall be regarded, treated and observed as the legal holiday.
When the return day of any summons or other court proceeding or any notice or time fixed for holding any court or doing any official act shall fall on any of these holidays, the next ensuing day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday shall be taken as meant and intended: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall increase nor diminish the legal school holidays provided for in section two [§ 18A-5-2], article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code.

We have previously found that W.Va.Code § 2-2-1,

by its express terms, deals with and applies only to a summons, a court proceeding or a notice fixing a designated time to hold court or to do an official act, and provides that when the time so fixed for holding court or doing such act falls on a legal holiday, the time specified in the summons or the notice shall be meant and intended for the ensuing secular day [373]*373instead of the holiday designated in the summons or the notice.

Means v. Kidd, 136 W.Va. 514, 67 S.E.2d 740, 743 (1951). Obviously, neither the statute itself nor our prior interpretation of it indicates that this provision entitles anyone to time off or compensation for the enumerated holidays.

Further, when analyzing the statutes relating to police and fire personnel pertaining to holidays, it is easily noted that those provisions found in W.Va.Code § 8-14-2a (1976)2 and W.Va.Code § 8-15-10a (1976)3 actually incorporate the holidays listed in W.Va.Code § 2-2-1. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding code provision dealing with correctional officers.4 The closest code provision for correctional officers which deals with holidays is W.Va.Code § 7-14B-18 (1983)5

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387 S.E.2d 837, 182 W. Va. 370, 29 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 1041, 1989 W. Va. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-mcdowell-county-correctional-officers-assn-v-yeager-wva-1989.