Dempsey v. Romer, 91SA9

• Decision Date: 03 February 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91SA9,91SA9
• Citation: 825 P.2d 44
• Parties: John N. DEMPSEY, Frank Abel, Richard J. Adamich, Gary E. Angerhofer, Anthony Aragon, William Archambault, Harvey Atchison, Carlos Baca, Arthur L. Barnhart, Joseph N. Basquez, Bradley J. Beckham, Johan J. Bemelen, Donna Sue Bishop, William R. Borchelt, Dwight M. Bower, Gary G. Broetzman, Raymond Q. Brown, Homer L. Bruton, Amelie Buchanan, Ronald L. Cada, Gary D. Cammarata, Raymond A. Cardy, Jim L. Cleek, Robert L. Clevenger, John E. Conger, Kenneth R. Conyers, Thomas I. Cooper, James R. Davis, Peter Dawson, Joseph R. Demko, Warren T. Diesslin, Dennis W. Donald, John A. Duncan, L.G. Earl Duncan, Larry Embry, Glenn W. Fritts, Pricilla H. Gallegos, H. Conway Gandy, Richard D. Georgeson, Patsy D. Goodman, Daniel J. Gossert, Ronald H. Granner, Clifford W. Hall, Thomas L. Hancock, Dee Ellis Hartman, Harold W. Henson, Robert L. Henson, Christian E. Hinz, John David Holm, Patrick C. Horton, Kenneth L. Howard, Larry D. Huls, Michael H. Hurtado, Kenneth H. Hutcheson, John Ivy, William H. Jackson, Kailash N. Jaitly, Harry B. Johnson, John P. Kelly, Joseph O. Kendall, George M. Kerin, Don C. Kirkpatrick, Dennis L. Kleinsasser, John T. Leary, James F. Lipcomb, Robert A. Longenbaugh, Thomas P. Looby, Kenneth MacNeil, Albert Martinez, Kenneth F. Mauro, Guy A. Mayo, George Meares, Sharon L. Michael, Ted V. Middle Jr., Richard G. Mills, John E. Mohatt, Gloria V. Morgan, Kris Moser, Robert P. Moston, Maryann Motza, Richard L. Noble, Bonnie M. Orkow, Austin Paitt, Harold E. Parker, John J. Perko, Robert M. Quillin, Douglas D. Rames, William Rayner, Donald Rice, J. Frank Rice, Elizabeth J. Ricker, Kaylon E. Roberts, David L. Ross, Jerry C. Schade, Philip E. Seymour, Alfred A. Shablo, Douglas Shaffer, David C. Shelton, Angelo Joseph Siccardi, James E. Siebels, Pamela Sillars, Robert L. Smith, William V. Speckman, W.G. Stringfellow, Lewis F. Sturm, Robert I. Sullivan, Robert L. Sutherland, Marie A. Swigert, Tom E. Talmadge, Robert S. Telkits, Edward M. Tormohlen, John M. Unbewust, Philip
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 44

825 P.2d 44

John N. DEMPSEY, Frank Abel, Richard J. Adamich, Gary E Angerhofer, Anthony Aragon, William Archambault, Harvey Atchison, Carlos Baca, Arthur L. Barnhart, Joseph N Basquez, Bradley J. Beckham, Johan J. Bemelen, Donna Sue Bishop, William R. Borchelt, Dwight M. Bower, Gary G Broetzman, Raymond Q. Brown, Homer L. Bruton, Amelie Buchanan, Ronald L. Cada, Gary D. Cammarata, Raymond A Cardy, Jim L. Cleek, Robert L. Clevenger, John E. Conger, Kenneth R. Conyers, Thomas I. Cooper, James R. Davis, Peter Dawson, Joseph R. Demko, Warren T. Diesslin, Dennis W. Donald, John A. Duncan, L.G. Earl Duncan, Larry Embry, Glenn W. Fritts, Pricilla H. Gallegos, H. Conway Gandy, Richard D. Georgeson, Patsy D. Goodman, Daniel J. Gossert, Ronald H. Granner, Clifford W. Hall, Thomas L. Hancock, Dee Ellis Hartman, Harold W. Henson, Robert L. Henson, Christian E. Hinz, John David Holm, Patrick C. Horton, Kenneth L. Howard, Larry D. Huls, Michael H. Hurtado, Kenneth H. Hutcheson, John Ivy, William H. Jackson, Kailash N. Jaitly, Harry B. Johnson, John P. Kelly, Joseph O. Kendall, George M. Kerin, Don C. Kirkpatrick, Dennis L. Kleinsasser, John T. Leary, James F. Lipcomb, Robert A. Longenbaugh, Thomas P. Looby, Kenneth MacNeil, Albert Martinez, Kenneth F. Mauro, Guy A. Mayo, George Meares, Sharon L. Michael, Ted V. Middle Jr., Richard G. Mills, John E. Mohatt, Gloria V. Morgan, Kris Moser, Robert P. Moston, Maryann Motza, Richard L. Noble, Bonnie M. Orkow, Austin Paitt, Harold E. Parker, John J. Perko, Robert M. Quillin, Douglas D. Rames, William Rayner, Donald Rice, J. Frank Rice, Elizabeth J. Ricker, Kaylon E. Roberts, David L. Ross, Jerry C. Schade, Philip E. Seymour, Alfred A. Shablo, Douglas Shaffer, David C. Shelton, Angelo Joseph Siccardi, James E. Siebels, Pamela Sillars, Robert L. Smith, William V. Speckman, W.G. Stringfellow, Lewis F. Sturm, Robert I. Sullivan, Robert L. Sutherland, Marie A. Swigert, Tom E. Talmadge, Robert S. Telkits, Edward M. Tormohlen, John M. Unbewust, Philip A. Vasques, Guillermo V. Vidal, Linda B. Waldman, Elizabeth Walton, Bill Wills, Jerome L. Wilson, William Wilson, Dennis J. Wolfard, Lyle B. Wullbrandt, James A. Yarrington, Daryl R. Yeates, Walter F. Young, and Nancy Zurbuch, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Roy ROMER, in his official capacity as the Governor of Colorado, Jo Ann Soker, in her official capacity as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Personnel, the Colorado Department of Personnel, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 91SA9.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

Feb. 3, 1992.

Rehearing Denied March 10, 1992.

Jon L. Holm, Denver, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Gale A. Norton, Atty. Gen., Raymond T. Slaughter, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Timothy M. Tymkovich, Sol. Gen., Michael P. Serruto, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for defendants-appellees.

Justice KIRSHBAUM delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Appellants, employees of the State of Colorado (employees), filed a declaratory judgment action in the District Court in and for the City and County of Denver against appellees, Roy Romer, the Governor of Colorado, and Jo Ann Soker, the Executive Director (the director) of the Colorado Department of Personnel (the Department). The complaint alleged, inter alia, that section 24-50-104(6), 10B C.R.S. (1988), establishing a maximum monthly salary level payable to the employees, violates article XII, sections 13, 14, and 15 of the Colorado Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Rejecting the employees' claims, the trial court entered summary judgment on behalf of the appellees, and the employees have appealed that judgment. We affirm.

I

A

In this appeal the employees assert that section 24-50-104(6), 10B C.R.S. (1988), violates article XII, section 13(8), of the Colorado Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. They also contend that article XII, sections 13 and 14, of the Colorado Constitution in essence grant exclusive authority to the director to establish the levels of compensation payable to persons employed in the state personnel system (hereafter referred to as state employees) commensurate with job classifications and grades certified by the director. The employees finally suggest that the current statutory scheme authorizing the director to establish pay plans justified by salary surveys prohibits the General Assembly from establishing specific salary limitations applicable to particular grades. Prior to resolving these significant questions concerning the constitutional and statutory authority of the director and of the General Assembly to establish levels of compensation of state employees, it is appropriate to consider in general the evolution of this state's institutional responses to issues associated with hiring, retaining and compensating state employees.

Until 1919 the General Assembly controlled the employment and compensation of state employees by enacting special legislation establishing positions, pay grades and compensation levels. See, e.g., ch. 24, sec. 1, 1903 Colo. Sess. Laws 58-64; ch. 157, sec. 3, 1915 Colo. Sess. Laws 448, 449; ch. 45, sec. 21, 1917 Colo. Sess. Laws 136, 137. However, in 1918 the electorate approved an initiative amending the Colorado Constitution to ensure the creation of an executive agency with constitutional authority to develop and administer a merit-based system of state employment. Colorado Ass'n of Pub. Employees v. Department of Highways, 809 P.2d 988, 991 (Colo.1991); Colorado State Civil Serv. Employees v. Love, 167 Colo. 436, 446, 448 P.2d 624, 628 (1968). The initiative called for the creation of a Civil Service Commission with authority to appoint, promote, discipline and discharge state employees "according to merit and fitness, to be ascertained by competitive tests of competence." Ch. 102, 1919 Colo. Sess. Laws 341, 342-43. ¹ It further provided that state employees "shall be graded and compensated according to standards of efficient service which shall be the same for all persons having like duties"; that "[l]aws shall be made to enforce the provisions of [the amendment]"; and that "[a]dequate appropriations shall be made to carry out the purposes of [the amendment]...." Id.

Upon its adoption, the initiative was designated as article XII, sections 13 and 14, of the Colorado Constitution. These constitutional provisions remained in effect until 1970, when the current provisions of article XII, sections 13, 14 and 15 were adopted by the electorate, effective 1971. ²

In response to the 1918 initiative, the General Assembly enacted legislation establishing a Civil Service Commission and granting it broad authority to classify positions and establish pay grades for state employees. 1921 Compiled Laws of Colorado, ch. 9, sec. 131. From 1919 to 1947, the General Assembly periodically established levels of compensation for identified positions within the civil service system. ³ In 1947, it adopted a compensation plan for all classified civil service positions that contained twenty-four salary grades with corresponding salaries ranging from $130 to $625 per month. Ch. 189, secs. 1-2, 1947 Colo. Sess. Laws 453-54. Statutes altering the number of grades, increasing the salary level for each grade, and ultimately establishing different steps with corresponding pay levels were adopted in 1949, 1953, 1957, 1959 and 1967. Ch. 162 secs. 1-10, 1949 Colo. Sess. Laws 409-10; ch. 103, secs. 1-2, 1953 Colo. Sess. Laws 289-90; ch. 97 sec. 1, § 26-2-3, 1957 Colo. Sess. Laws 292; ch. 80, secs. 1-2, § 26-2-3, 1959 Colo. Sess. Laws 309-310; ch. 124, sec. 1, § 26-1-2, 1967 Colo. Sess. Laws 154, 155.

The 1970 constitutional revisions were designed to delineate the ministerial and policy-making functions incident to the administration of the state personnel system. Colorado Ass'n of Pub. Employees v. Board of Regents, 804 P.2d 138 (Colo.1990). They called for the creation of a new executive agency, the Department, headed by a director responsible for administering the state personnel system and for the creation of a five-person State Personnel Board functioning primarily as a policy-making and appeals entity. See "Legislative Council of the General Assembly Analysis of 1970 Ballot Proposals," Research Publication No. 151 (1970). The 1970 constitutional amendments also provided that "[a]dequate appropriations shall be made to carry out the purposes of [article XII, §§ 13, 14]." Colo. Const. art. XII, § 14(5).

In 1972, pursuant to the revised constitutional amendments, the General Assembly adopted legislation reorganizing all salary grades, establishing a chart of minimum and maximum salaries for all such grades, and establishing a maximum salary level. Ch. 38, sec. 1, § 26-1-4, 1972 Colo. Sess. Laws 158, 161-68. In 1973, legislation was adopted deleting the chart of minimum and maximum salaries, authorizing the director to establish pay plans ⁴ for state employees under certain policy criteria, and establishing a "maximum monthly salary" of $3,227 for state employees. Ch. 119, secs. 1 & 2, § 26-1-4(1)-(5), 1973 Colo. Sess. Laws 421, 423; ch. 119, sec. 3, § 26-1-4(6), 1973 Colo. Sess. Laws 421, 423, § 24-50-104(1)-(6), 10 C.R.S. (1973). All subsequent legislation authorizing the director to develop pay plans has contained a maximum monthly salary provision. In 1980, the maximum monthly salary level was set at $4,872. Ch. 116, sec. 1, § 24-50-104(6), 1980 Colo. Sess. Laws 600.

The statutory scheme applicable here requires the director to establish classifications of different positions within the state personnel system. § 24-50-104(3)(a), 10B C.R.S. (1988). A position consists of particularly defined duties and responsibilities. A class consists of one or more positions sufficiently similar in duties, responsibilities, complexity of tasks and required skill, knowledge and ability to justify the establishment of identical requirements...