Rose, et al. v. Raleigh County BOE
Annotate this CaseJanuary 1997 Term
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No. 23450
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LOTUS M. ROSE, JO LEE DANIELS, FRANCES O. CARPENTER, JIENELL
GILKERSON, SANDRA BOLAND, WILHEMINA GOINS, SUE SWEPSTON, DEANNA
ARTHUR, JOANN WICKLINE, RUTH HURT, ALMA WILLIS, FRANCES BAIR,
SARAH MOYE, YVONEE PACK, ANN COLE, HERBERT CLAYPOOL, FLETCHER
PARKER, JR., ROBIN RIFE, SALLY YOUNG, JACQUELYN MILAM, GLORIA
FREEMAN, KETHEL HOLLEY, SHARON WALKER, FRANCES THOMPSON AND
DOROTHY MASSIE,
Plaintiffs Below, Appellants
v.
RALEIGH COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION,
Defendant Below, Appellee
____________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Kanawha County
Honorable Lyne Ranson, Judge
Civil Action No. 95-AA-8
AFFIRMED
____________________________________________________________________
Submitted: January 22, 1997
Filed: February 24, 1997
John Everett Roush, Esq. Erwin L. Conrad, Esq.
Charleston, West Virginia Conrad Law Offices
Attorney for the Appellant Fayetteville, West Virginia
Attorney for the Appellee
The Opinion of the Court was delivered PER CURIAM.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
"A final order of the hearing examiner for the West Virginia Educational Employees Grievance Board, made pursuant to W.Va. Code, 18-29-1, et seq.
(1985), and based upon findings of fact, should not be reversed unless clearly wrong."
Syllabus point 1, Randolph County Board of Education v. Scalia, 182 W.Va. 289, 387 S.E.2d 524 (1989).
Per Curiam:
This is an appeal by Lotus Rose, and certain other Raleigh County school
service personnel, from decision of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County denying them
relief on a grievance which they filed against the Raleigh County Board of Education. The
circuit court denied the grievance on the ground that it was not timely filed. On appeal, the
appellants claim that the circuit court, in concluding that the grievance was not timely filed,
improperly found that the time for filing the grievance commenced running on April 6, 1994,
and that the circuit court consequently erred in denying them relief. We disagree, and
accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
For many years the Raleigh County Board of Education provided the
appellants, who were central office school service employees, with a special summer
schedule. Under this special schedule the central office was closed on Wednesday
afternoons during the summer, and the appellants who worked in it, had Wednesday
afternoons off. In exchange for the time off, the appellants received a lower county
supplement to their pay than other school service personnel employees who were required
to work on Wednesday afternoons during the summer.
In 1994 the Raleigh County Board of Education undertook to reexamine the
special summer schedule, and, as a consequence, by letter dated March 3, 1994, the
Superintendent of Schools notified the appellants that he had recommended to the School
Board that their 1994-95 contracts be terminated and be supplanted with new contracts under
which they would be required to work on Wednesday afternoons. In effect, he notified them
that he was proposing the termination of the special summer schedule. The notice also
advised the appellants that they could appear before the next scheduled School Board
meeting and present their views and/or evidence on the matter.
The appellants appeared at the Board's March 28, 1994, meeting and were
afforded a full opportunity to comment on and argue against the proposal to eliminate the
special summer schedule. At that meeting the Board, in spite of the appellants' position,
voted to eliminate the special summer schedule and to place the appellants on a "full day on
Wednesday" summer schedule.
By letter dated April 6, 1994, the Superintendent of Schools formally notified
the appellants of the Board's action.
In a June 7, 1994, memorandum the Superintendent announced the actual
summer schedule for all central office employees. This schedule effectively eliminated the
appellants' entitlement to Wednesday afternoons off effective July 1, 1994.
Within fifteen (15) days after receiving the Superintendent's June 7, 1994,
memorandum, the appellants filed a grievance under the grievance procedure established in
W.Va. Code 18-29-1, et seq. By this time, two months had passed since the April 6, 1994,
notice notifying the appellants of the decision of the Raleigh County Board of Education to
eliminate the special summer schedule.
The case progressed to level two of the grievance procedure, and at level two,
the Board of Education raised the issue of whether the grievance was timely filed. The
grievance evaluator concluded that it was and denied the appellants' entitlement to
Wednesday afternoons off.
The development of the case continued, and the appellants appealed the
grievance decision to level four. A supplemental hearing was held at that level. By decision
dated November 29, 1994, the administrative law judge at level four, denied the grievance
on the basis that it was not timely filed at level one. He did not address the merits of the
grievance.
The appellants then appealed the grievance ruling to the Circuit Court of
Kanawha County, and by order entered November 8, 1995, the circuit court, after reviewing
the questions presented, affirmed the November 29, 1994, decision of the administrative law
judge who rendered the level four decision. In so doing the circuit court concluded that the
event which triggered the running of the limitations period was the April 6, 1994, letter of
the Raleigh County Superintendent of Schools notifying the appellants of the Board's
decision to eliminate the special summer schedule rather than the June 7, 1994, memorandum
notifying the appellants of the actual new schedule.
In syllabus point 1 of Randolph County Board of Education v. Scalia, 182 W.Va. 289, 387 S.E.2d 524 (1989), this Court stated:
"A final order of the hearing examiner for the West Virginia
Educational Employees Grievance Board, made pursuant to
W.Va. Code, 18-29-1, et seq. (1985), and based upon findings
of fact, should not be reversed unless clearly wrong."
See also Parham v. Raleigh County Board of Education, 192 W.Va. 540, 453 S.E.2d 374
(1994).
This principle, in this Court's view, should govern the consideration and
review of the issue in the present case.
In the present case the hearing examiner specifically found that the decision
which forms the basis of the appellants' grievance was made at the March 28, 1994, meeting
of the Raleigh County Board of Education at which the appellants appeared and at which
they were afforded a full opportunity to comment on and argue against the proposal. He
further noted that by letter dated April 6, 1994, the Superintendent of Schools formally
advised the appellants of the Board's action. Lastly, he found that the Superintendent's
"June 7, 1994 memorandum was merely an additional confirmation of the Board's decision
and not the event upon which the claims are based." The hearing examiner also noted that
W.Va. Code 18-29-4(a)(1), provides that an employee must file a grievance within fifteen
days following the occurrence of the event upon which the grievance is based, and he
concluded the event in the present case was the board of education's decision to eliminate
the special summer schedule. He found that the appellants were notified of this decision no
later than April 6, 1996, and he concluded that since the appellants' grievance was not filed
within fifteen days following April 6, 1996, it was not timely filed under W.Va. Code 18-29-4 (a)(1).
The hearing examiner was correct in concluding that a grievance must be filed
within fifteen days following the occurrence of the event upon which the grievance is based.
See e.g., Spahr v. Preston County Board of Education, 182 W.Va. 726, 391 S.E.2d 739
(1990). Further this Court cannot conclude that the hearing examiner was clearly wrong in
holding in the case presently under consideration that the limitation period began to run when
the appellants were clearly notified of the decision to eliminate the special summer schedule,
for in similar administrative proceedings the running of the relevant time period is ordinarily
deemed to begin to run when the employee is unequivocally notified of the decision. See,
e.g. Naylor v. West Virginia Human Rights Commission, 180 W.Va. 634, 378 S.E.2d 843
(1989). Nor can the Court conclude that the hearing examiner's finding that the appellants
were notified on April 6, 1996, of the board's decision was clearly wrong since the April 6,
1996, letter of the Raleigh County Superintendent of Schools clearly stated:
At the March 28, 1994 special meeting, the Raleigh County
Board accepted my recommendation to modify your contract in
order to revise your summer work schedule to reflect a full day
on Wednesdays. This modification is being made in order to
eliminate the possibility of unequal treatment of similarly
situated employees. Such an amendment to one's work
schedule can be construed to be a change in the terms of one's
contract and thus require notice under the provisions of West
Virginia Code 18A-2-6.
Since in this Court's view, the decision of the hearing examiner in this case,
which was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, was not clearly wrong,
syllabus point 1 of Randolph County Board of Education v. Scalia, supra, requires that the
judgment of the circuit court be affirmed.
The judgment of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County is, therefore, affirmed.
Affirmed.
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