Waldroup v. Louisiana State University

255 So. 2d 413, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5406
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 10, 1971
DocketNo. 8565
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 255 So. 2d 413 (Waldroup v. Louisiana State University) 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
Waldroup v. Louisiana State University, 255 So. 2d 413, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5406 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

LANDRY, Judge.

Mrs. Crickett Waldroup appeals from decisions of the Civil Service Commission (Commission) sustaining her unsatisfactory rating and subsequent discharge from the position of Editor I, in which she was employed in permanent status by the Louisiana State University Press (Press), a Department of Louisiana State University (University). We affirm.

On January 3, 1968, appellant received a probationary appointment as Editor I with the Press. Upon expiration of her six month probationary period, her then immediate superior, R. L. Wentworth, entertained some doubt as to the advisability of conferring permanent status on plaintiff, but nevertheless requested a three month extension of plaintiff’s probationary period for further evaluation of plaintiff’s work. On March 31, 1969, appellant was given a satisfactory rating and her status then became permanent. During the ensuing rating period, which ended March 31, 1970, [415]*415her superior found her work unsatisfactory. On April 30, 1970, plaintiff was notified she had been given an unsatisfactory rating for the period just ended. Plaintiff appealed to the Commission on May 27, 1970, seeking a reversal of her unfavorable rating. The adverse rating was affirmed by a reviewing committee appointed by the University from which determination plaintiff also appealed. On September 17, 1970, plaintiff was notified she had been rerated in accordance with Civil Service regulations and found again to be unsatisfactory, and that her employment would be terminated as of October 9, 1970. Plaintiff appealed this ruling also.

In affirming plaintiff’s dismissal, the Commission found:

(1) Appellant made editorial changes in the work of authors which changed the sense of what the author was endeavoring to say, and she made editorial changes calculated to render passages more readable but instead rendered them awkward. She did, on a number of occasions, overedit.
(2) Appellant did require editorial supervision through her term of service with the L S U Press, and, after about one (1) year of service as an editor she should have been capable of editing independently of close supervision. Her deficiencies placed an undue burden on her supervisor and impaired the efficiency of the Press.
(3) Appellant, as late as her editing of Philosophy at the Crossroads by Ballard (shortly before her discharge) made numerous errors in the nature of punctuation, carelessness, and inconsistency in the spelling of words and the capitalization of them. (Parenthetical information by the Court.)
(4) Appellant did not meet the standards established by the Director of the L S U Press for performance of editors.

In substance, plaintiff maintains her discharge was illegal because of discrimination against her. She also complains that the Commission’s rules fail to establish objective standards by which the work of an employee of her classification can be compared to other similar employees, and by which the fairness of such ratings can be determined on judicial review. Lastly, appellant contends the Commission committed procedural error in failing to order a requested pre-hearing discovery deposition from one of her former superiors.

Appellant’s claim of discrimination is founded on the following charges: Her rating superior was biased against her; different standards were used in rating her as compared with other editors; a double standard was applied to her; her rating superior did not observe applicable instructions contained in the State Personnel Manual; she was charged with errors not of her making, and there was no substantial cause for her dismissal.

In considering the appeal of a dismissed classified employee, the courts are confined to a review of questions of law only. LSA-La.Const. Article XIV, Section 15(0) (1) ; Uniform Rules, Courts of Appeal, Rule XVI, Section 1.

On appeal from an order of the Commission by a classified employee, the burden of proof is on the employee. LSA-La. Const. Article XIV, Section 15(N) (1).

In reviewing the decisions of the Commission, Courts may not weigh the sufficiency of the evidence. If there is some evidence to support the Commission’s findings of fact, the Courts are bound thereby. Villemarette v. Department of Public Safety, 129 So.2d 835, and authorities therein cited.

The Commission’s rules have the force of law, LSA-La. Const. Article XIV, Section 15(1); Day v. Department of Institutions, 228 La. 105, 81 So.2d 826.

[416]*416It is conceded that Civil Service Rules require periodic rating of classified employees, and that the only ratings allowed are either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. It is also conceded that Civil Service regulations provide that the factors to be rated are quantity of work, quality of work and adaptability.

Dr. Cecil G. Taylor, Chancellor, Louisiana State University, appellant’s appointing authority, testified that by letter dated September 18, 1970, he notified appellant her employment would be terminated as of October 9, 1970. Dr. Taylor also testified that, although he had no personal knowledge of appellant’s performance capacity, reports to him by appellant’s superiors indicated that appellant’s work was never satisfactory.

Appellant, Mrs. Waldroup, testified in essence that her superiors, Wentworth, East and Philebaum, were prejudiced, and “out to get her." She related a long history of employment which included free lance writing, newspaper editing, editing of military base newspapers, officers’ wives’ publications, book reviews and public relations work, but little experience editing manuscripts of books. She testified that East gave her less personal attention and training than accorded other Editors. She maintained she was consistently assigned the more difficult manuscripts. She testified that she solved problems in certain books when other Editors could not do so. As evidence of East’s bias, she stated that he called her a vile name, once told her that a punctuation mark was required in a certain place merely because he said so, and that he asked her not to smoke in his office. She also stated that East unjustly accused her of excessively loud talking. Appellant also maintained that on one occasion her files were rifled by an unknown party, and that someone, unknown to her, inserted errors in her work, which she pointed out to the Commission. In a comparison of her work with that of other Editors of the Press, appellant pointed out large numbers of errors in Press publications edited by other Editors.

Mr. Charles East, present Press Director, testified he was Assistant Press Director and Editor during most of appellant’s employment. He stated that both he and former Director, R. L. Wentworth, were not satisfied with appellant’s performance from the beginning of plaintiff’s employment. Nevertheless, Wentworth arranged an extension of appellant’s probationary period to further evaluate plaintiff’s work in the hope that plaintiff might eventually become a proficient Editor. In March of 1969, East gave plaintiff what he termed a marginal satisfactory rating. He stated that at this time, Mr. Wentworth wanted to discharge plaintiff, but that he, East, felt that plaintiff’s work would improve and become more satisfactory. He explained that it takes approximately one year to train an Editor to edit book manuscripts, which plaintiff was engaged to do.

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255 So. 2d 413, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 5406, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waldroup-v-louisiana-state-university-lactapp-1971.