Koppin v. Strode
| Decision Date | 15 January 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-0103-CV-148.,49A02-0103-CV-148. |
| Citation | 761 N.E.2d 455 |
| Parties | James KOPPIN in his individual official capacity as Lawrence Township Trustee, and the Lawrence Township Fire Department, Appellants-Defendants, v. James STRODE and Andrew Richardson, Appellees-Plaintiffs. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Thomas R. Schultz, Donald B. Kite, Sr., Schultz & Pogue, LLP, Carmel, IN, Attorneys for Township.
Brenda Franklin Rodeheffer, Monday Rodeheffer Jones & Albright, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Employees.
Anthony W. Overholt, Peggy D. Dallmann, Office of Corporation Counsel for the City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Louis A. Dezelan, Chief of the Indianapolis Fire Department.
Appellants-defendants James Koppin ("Koppin"), in his official capacity as Lawrence Township Trustee, and the Lawrence Township Fire Department ("the LTFD") (collectively, "Township") appeal the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellees-plaintiffs James Strode ("Strode") and Andrew Richardson ("Richardson") (collectively, "Employees").
We reverse.
Ind.Code § 10-2-4-3 provides that employees of the State of Indiana and of any county, township, municipality, or school corporation in Indiana who are members of the Indiana National Guard or a reserve component, or are retired personnel of the naval, air, or ground forces of the United States are entitled to a leave of absence without loss of pay or vacation benefits for military service not to exceed fifteen days in any calendar year. Does a township policy providing military leave time of fifteen work days per year and which defines work day as an eight hour period of regularly scheduled duty contravene this section when applied to firefighters whose duty is scheduled in twenty-four hour shifts?
Employees are firefighters employed by the LTFD in Marion County, Indiana. Strode is an active member of the United States Air Force Reserves, and Richardson is an active member of the Kentucky National Guard; both are Marion County residents. As members of their respective units, Employees are required to spend one weekend per month and an additional two weeks per year in training with the Indiana Reserve. They can be called into active duty at any time in case of emergency or military need. As of December 1998, Employees worked a schedule of twenty-four hours on duty, followed by forty-eight hours off duty.2
As of December 1998, Ind.Code § 10-2-4-3 read as follows:
(d) A member is entitled to receive from the member's employer a leave of absence from the member's respective duties, in addition to the member's regular vacation period, for the total number of days that the member is on state active duty under section 4 of this chapter.[4] This leave of absence may be with or without loss of time or pay at the discretion of the member's employer.[5]
As the trustee for Lawrence Township, Koppin oversees the LTFD. The Township's military leave policy reads in relevant part as follows:6
A. DEFINITION
1. Military leave is time off duty, with pay and without stand-in, for department employees who are also members of any of the Armed Forces Guard or Reserves for certain required trainings.
B. RATIONALE
1. Indiana Code Chapter 4, Section 10-2-4-1, 2 and 3 specifies that employers shall allow leave for the purpose of military assembly. The same code specifies the amount of time allotted.
C. ALLOTMENT
1. Each employee who is also a member of the National Guard or Reserves shall be allotted 15 work days per calendar year, without loss of pay or vacation leave, for the specific purposes of military duty and training set forth in IC 10-2-4-3. For purposes of this section a "work day" is defined as an eight (8) hour period of regularly scheduled duty. Accordingly, Operations Personnel are entitled up to five (5) duty days of military leave per calendar year without loss of pay or vacation leave.
D. REGULATIONS
1. Military leave may be used only for the purposes of military duty and training.
2. Military leave is not cumulative, any leave not used in a calendar year does not carry over to the next year.
3. Leave not used up during the two-week training assembly may be used in the same calendar year for weekend drills, up to the yearly total of 15 working days. Additional time off required for weekend drills shall be obtained through personal day leave or vacation leave or through obtaining stand-ins.
Thus, under the Township's policy, Employees were granted five twenty-four-hour "duty days" of paid military leave per year.
On December 22, 1998, Employees filed suit against Township in the United States District Court of the Southern District of Indiana under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that the Township's military leave policy violated their equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; they further claimed, inter alia, that the Township's policy violated the fifteen-day paid leave provision Ind.Code § 10-2-4-3.7 On November 1, 1999, the district court granted Township's motion for summary judgment on Employees' equal protection claim but declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over their remaining state law claims.8
Employees filed suit against Township in Marion Superior Court on November 30, 1999. On May 12, 2000, the parties filed a pre-summary judgment statement of stipulated facts. The parties subsequently filed cross-motions for summary judgment seeking interpretation of Ind. Code § 10-2-4-3 as a matter of law. On December 27, 2000, the trial court granted Employees' motion on the issue of liability. The trial court's order reads in relevant part as follows:
17. The purpose of the Indiana Military Code [Ind.Code § 10-2-4-3] is to benefit our country's military preparedness by encouraging the enrollment of persons into the Guard and Reserve.
18. The Code was designed to enable employees of Indiana governmental units to serve in the Reserve and Guard without penalty, loss of income, or loss of benefits.
19. There is no authority given to local governmental units to define "day" as anything other than the plain meaning of day; that is, a twenty-four hour period.
20. Lawrence Township Fire Department requires the Plaintiffs to lose paid time and/or have to make special arrangements for coverage when they are on guard or reserve duty for fifteen days or less.
21. Both the plain meaning and the intent of Indiana Code Sec. 10-2-4-3 are not met by the Lawrence Township Fire Department. That is, the guard and reserve members of the Lawrence Township Fire Department who work a 24 hour on/48 hour off schedule are not allowed to serve in the guard and reserve for up to fifteen calendar days a year without penalty.
1. Rules of statutory construction require that the plain meaning of
"day" be used in Indiana Code Sec. 10-2-4-3, which is a twenty-four hour period.
2. Lawrence Township does not have authority to use or define "day" in any manner that contravenes Indiana Code Sec. 10-2-4-3.
3. The statute is clear and unambiguous, Lawrence Township must permit their employees to fulfill their military duties without loss of either time or pay. The net effect of the Township's definition of the "work day" is to defeat the public policy of this state set forth in the statute. Regardless of Lawrence Township Fire Department's internal distinction between "work day" and day, the Defendants must allow each of its Reserve and Guard members up to fifteen calendar days off each year to meet their respective military commitments.
4. The Court finds that the Lawrence Township Fire Department and the Trustee violated Indiana Code 10-2-4-3, insofar as they have determined that the Plaintiffs are to be assessed three (3) works [sic] days during a twenty-four (24) hour work period for the purpose of computing the time due Plaintiffs under the statute. The result is Defendants[`] untimely payment of wages due to the Plaintiffs.
Appellants' Appendix at 85-87. The trial court denied Township's motion to reconsider, and this interlocutory appeal ensued.
Summary judgment is appropriate only where the designated evidentiary material shows that there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Spears v. Brennan, 745 N.E.2d 862, 869 (Ind.Ct.App.2001); Ind. Trial Rule 56(C). "When reviewing an entry of summary judgment, we stand in the shoes of the trial court." Id. Lake States Ins. Co. v. Tech Tools, Inc., 743 N.E.2d 314, 318 (Ind.Ct.App.2001).
Here, the trial court entered specific findings of fact and conclusions thereon, which are neither required nor prohibited in the...
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