Trudy M. White VS City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge
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NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL FIRST CIRCUIT NO 2013 CA 0502 TRUDY M WHITE VERSUS CITY OF BATON ROUGE OF EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH 7udgment 1 rendered V N 0 1 2013 i Appealed from the 19 Judicial District Court in and for the Parish of East Baton Rouge Louisiana Trial Court No 585 984 Honorable Frank Foil Judge Ad Hoc TRUDY M WHITE IN PROPER PERSON BATON ROUGE LA APPELLANT PLAINTIFF MARY E ROPER ATTORNEYS FOR PARISH ATTORNEY APPELLEE DEFENDANT DAWN N GUILLOT CITY OF BATON ROUGE PARISH ASSISTANT PARISH AITORNEY OF EAST BATON ROUGE BATON ROUGE LA BEFORE PETTIGREW McDONALD AND McCLENDON JJ PETTIGREW 7 This is an appeal by plaintiff Trudy M White of the trial court judgment dated s January 25 2013 dismissing her petition for declaratory judgment The trial court found no merit in her arguments that she was paid less severance pay than that to which she was entitled under the applicable law ordinances and rules for judges of the courts of the City of Baton Rouge Parish of East Baton Rouge After thoroughly reviewing the record the applicable laws and ordinances and considering the parties arguments we find no manifest or legal error in the judgment of the trial court and affirm BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Trudy M White pudge White served as a judge on the Baton Rouge City Court from November 6 1999 through December 31 2008 On January 1 2009 she began sitting as a judge on the Nineteenth Judicial District Court where she continues to serve in that capaciry to date When she left the city court she received severance pay from the defendant the City of Baton Rouge in the sum of 36 She claims she is 95 226 owed additional severance pay for accrued unused vacation time in the amount of 40 656 59 for a total of 95 The City maintains the amount of severance paid 35 883 to Judge White was proper pursuant to City Ordinance 11212 discussed later Parish herein On December 30 2009 Judge White filed a Petition for Declaratory udgment seeking additional severance pay beyond what she had been paid asserting she had accrued 1 hours 146 days of unused vacation time and maintaining she is 74 168 entitled to be paid for that time as part of her severance pay pursuant to the relevant laws and ordinances ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR PRESENTED FOR REVIEW ISSUES In her appeal Judge White raises the following issues 1 whether severance pay is earned compensation or salary 2 whether City Ordinance 11212 effective Parish 1 Nohvithstanding the various different citations to this ordinance found throughout the record and in the parties briefs the copy of the actual ordinance contained in the record has a handwritten notation that the ordinance number is 11212 Therefore for purposes of this opinion that designation will be used 2 I January 1 2001 limited the amount of unused vacation that accrued for severance pay purposes for city judges 3 whether La R 13 primes 11212 and 4 whether S 2071 severance pay is due and owing under the Judges method APPLICABLE LAW In asserting her demand Judge White relies in part on La R 13 which S 2071 addresses the compensation of city judges officers and employees of city court in Baton Rouge and provides in pertinent part B Each judge may be granted a vacation of thirly days during each year however only one may be on vacation at any given time and during this time the other division of the court shall continue in operation I Emphasis added Applying the foregoing statute in calculating severance is referred to as the State method Judge White asserts that according to the State method she is entitled to receive compensation for unused vacation time pursuant to the statutory allocation of thirty days per year without any limitation on the amount that can be accrued We note however the statute permits but does not mandate an allowance of thirty days vacation time per year to city court judges Moreover the statute does not address the accrual of or carry over of such time Judge White also relies on City Personnel Rule IX Section 3 which refers Parish 4 to severance pay providing in pertinent part Upon termination of employment for any reason the shall be entitled to be paid for all accrued but unused vacation time subject to the maximum set forth in employee Section 3 2 Judge White asserts that prior to January 1 2001 city court judges were paid all unused vacation days the calculations presumably based on the 30 days of annual vacation permitted by La R 13 Notably Judge White refers to those thirty days S 2071 Z For purposes of this litigation the Judges method is the terminology given by the parties to the City s Parish interpretation of the laws applicable to and the proper calculation pursuant to which Judge White s severance was calculated The State method is the terminology given to interpretation and calculations posited by Judge White as being applicable to her severance and which she urges this court to adopt 3 I as a entitlement however as noted earlier the statute uses permissive and statutory not mandatory language We also note that the right to be paid for all accrued unused vacation time arises out of a City personnel rule and not as asserted by Judge Parish White from the of GovernmenY or the employment contract city court judges have Plan with the City government Thus assignments of error one and four lack merit Parish Also relevant to resolving the issue presented is City Ordinance 11212 Parish entitled Amending Title Municipal 1 and Parish Organization So as to Amend and enact Re Section 1 Thereof Relative to the acations Sick Leave and Compensation 58 which became effective on January 1 2001 This ordinance is the first provision that specifically addresses city judges right to pay of accrued vacation time the precise issue before the court The defendant maintains it was applicable to Judge White from that date until her severance from the Baton Rouge City Court They also maintain she was paid severance pursuant to that ordinance and that all such pay due to her had been paid in full That ordinance amended the Code of Ordinances Section 1 to provide as 58 follows in pertinent part A The city judges shall be entitled to such vacations as provided by law Vacation accrual and severance pay shal be allowed in accordance with the Personnel Ru for es assified CEmployees of the City Parish Emphasis added The Code of Ordinances additionally provides in Sedion 1 which 230 was in effect prior to the passing of 11212 Vacations for full time unclassified employees of the city parish shall be granted in the same manner and subject to the same rules provided for employees in the classified service as set forth in rule IX section 2 of the Personnel RuleS as same may be amended from time to time Thus both The Code of Ordinances as well as Ordinance 11212 establish the Personnel Rules as the method for accruing vacation leave and receiving severance pay for such accrued yet unused leave upon termination of service In pertinent part Rule IX provides as follows Section 3 Maximum Accrual 2 An employee may accumulate vacation time up to the maximum that is equivalent to the number of vacation days 4 which can be earned by that employee during his or her most recent five years of employment not to exceed one hundred twenty 120 days Once accumulated vacation time reaches that maximum no further vacation time is earned until the employee uses vacation time and reduces his or her accumulated vacation time to an amount less maximum at which time accumulation against subject to the maximum shall than the commence Section 3 Payment 4 Credit A Upon termination of employment for any reason the employee shall be entitled to be paid for all accrued but unused vacation time subject to the maximum set forth in Section 3 herein 2 Thus Ordinance 11212 by reference to the Personnel Rules established that the accrual rate for city judges would be based on years of service as opposed to actual unused vacation days Defendant maintains Judge White severance was calculated and paid pursuant to s Rule IX for the amount to which Judge White was entitled from the period of January 1 2001 to her departure They also submit that they used the balance on the City Court Judicial Administrator sbooks to calculate the pre hours owed Our review of the 2001 record reflects that these calculations were properly based on and calculated pursuant to Personnel Rule IX Thus assignments of error two and three also lack merit and were properly rejected by the trial court Accordingly finding no error in the method employed by the defendant in calculating and paying Judge White severance we likewise find no error in the trial s s court judgment denying her claim and dismissing her suit The judgment of the trial court is hereby affirmed costs of this appeal are assessed to the plaintiff Trudy M White AFFIRMED 3 The City calculated Judge White severance pay prior to January 1 2001 and the effective date of Parish s Ordinance 11212 pursuant to 1 and using the balance provided by the City Court Judicial 230 Administrator Thereafter pursuant to Ordinance 11212 her severance for anuary 1 2001 until her departure from city court was calculated and paid pursuant to Personnel Rule IX 5
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