Latino v. City of Bogalusa

• Citation: 295 So.2d 560
• Decision Date: 28 May 1974
• Docket Number: No. 9822,9822
• Parties: J. L. LATINO et al. v. The CITY OF BOGALUSA and Bogalusa Commission Council.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US)

Page 560

295 So.2d 560

J. L. LATINO et al. v. The CITY OF BOGALUSA and Bogalusa Commission Council.

No. 9822.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 28, 1974.

Donald M. Fendlason, Bogalusa, for appellants.

Richard F. Knight, Bogalusa, for appellee.

Before LOTTINGER, BLANCHE and de la HOUSSAYE, JJ.

LOTTINGER, Judge.

Plaintiffs brought suit against the City of Bogalusa and Bogalusa Commission Council, individually as well as a class action for other policemen, seeking to have their overtime pay computed not only on the basis of their city salary but including the extra compensation paid to them by the State of Louisiana by virtue of La.R.S. 33:2218.2. The Lower Court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, and from this judgment defendants have appealed.

The central issue presented to the court is one of law, as follows: Are the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council required by state law to pay over-time pay to all policemen with the rank of captain and below, employed by the City of Bogalusa in accordance with La.R.S. 33:2213 based on both the salary paid to the said policemen by the City of Bogalusa and the supplemental pay paid to said policemen by the State of Louisiana or are the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council required to pay overtime to said policemen based only on the salary paid to the said policemen by the City of Bogalusa.

The stipulated facts, as per the written stipulation in the record, are as follows: For the years of 1971, 1972 and 1973 and to date, the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council have not paid overtime pay to the policemen employed by the City of Bogalusa on the basis of the supplemental pay required to be paid to said policemen under authority of the La.R.S. 33:2218.2 and the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council have paid overtime to the policemen only on that portion of the salary paid to them by the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council.

The principal portion of the judgment of the trial court which defendants-appellants dispute in this appeal is as follows:

'It is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the writ of mandamus directed to the defendants, City of Bogalusa and Bogalusa Commission Council, is hereby made per-emptory, in that the City of Bogalusa and the Bogalusa Commission Council are hereby ordered to pay each policemen employed by the City of Bogalusa overtime pay, as required by Louisiana Revised Statute 33:2213, based upon both the salary paid by the City of Bogalusa and the supplemental pay paid by the State of Louisiana in accordance with Louisiana Revised Statutes 33:2218.2'

Paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Specification of Errors contained in defendants-appellants' brief directly relate to the above paragraph of the judgment. Defendants-appellants claim that the Trial Court erred in not finding that overtime pay is only available for officers up to the rank of captain and in not finding that overtime pay would only be available for hours in excess of 48 hours in one calendar week. However, the judgment of the Trial Court explicitly states that compensation will be paid in accordance with La.R.S. 33:2213. That statute only allows overtime to be paid for policemen through the rank of captain and only in excess of 48 hours per calendar week. As a practical matter, it would have served no purpose for the Trial Court to have restated the language of the statute. By merely referring to the statute, the court's judgment only allows overtime to be paid through the rank of captain and only allows overtime for those hours in excess of 48 hours per calendar week. Plaintiffs have agreed that the judgment must be read in light of La.R.S. 33:2213.

La.R.S. 33:2213 requires that all policemen with the rank of captain or lower be paid overtime for all those hours in excess of forty eight hours in one calendar week and eight hours in any one day, at the rate of one and one-half times their usual salary, to be determined by reducing each policeman's monthly salary to an hourly scale, as follows:

'The maximum hours or work required of any full-time paid patrolman, patrolman first class, sergeant, lieutenant, or captain, or any other employee of the police department, except those employed in a position, grade, or class above that of captain, in any municipality affected by this Sub-part, shall be forty-eight hours in any one calendar week, and eight hours in any one day. In cases of emergency, any employee may be required to work in excess of the maximum. For each hour so worked the employee shall be paid at the rate of one and one-half times his Usual salary, to be determined by reducing his Monthly salary to an hourly scale.' (Emphasis added.)

Also included within 'Part III Police Department' of Title 33 of the Revised Statutes is La.R.S. 33:2218.2 which sets forth compensation to be paid by the state to policemen in...