West v. Allen
| Decision Date | 07 April 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 65858,65858 |
| Citation | 382 So.2d 924 |
| Parties | Thomas J. WEST, Jr., et al. v. Douglas A. ALLEN et al. |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
Ross P. LaDart, Harvey, for defendants-respondents.
John L. Avant, Avant, Wall, Thomas, Riche & Falcon, Baton Rouge, for plaintiffs-applicants.
*
The plaintiffs, Jefferson Parish firemen, brought this suit to compel the members of the Jefferson Parish Council to comply with Article 10, § 16 of the Constitution of 1974 relative to the establishment of a system of classified fire and police civil service to apply to all parishes with a regularly paid fire department. The plaintiff firemen contend that the action of the council in maintaining a general civil service system including all parish employees is contrary to the constitutional provision providing for a statewide system to include only firemen and policemen. The plaintiffs further contend that the council has a ministerial duty to comply with Article 10, § 16 and with legislative enactments which provide for the operation of the statewide system. The defendants answered by claiming that the parish's civil service system was authorized by its Home Rule Charter which had been continued in effect by Article 6, § 4 of the Constitution of 1974. The trial court dismissed plaintiffs' suit, holding that Article 10, § 16 had no application to the Parish of Jefferson. The Court of Appeal affirmed. This court granted writs to review the actions of the lower courts.
Part 1 of Article 10 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of a state and city civil service system to be applicable to the employees of the state (but not local governmental subdivisions) and to employees of cities with populations of over four hundred thousand. Article 10, § 1. Parishes, and cities with populations of over ten thousand but less than four hundred thousand, may elect to be governed by Part 1 of Article 10 by a majority vote. Article 10, § 14. In addition, parishes and cities with a population of less than four hundred thousand may have, by act of either the legislature or of the local governing authority, a civil service system applicable to any or all local employees, except that, in cities with a population of over thirteen thousand and in the parishes, firemen and policemen are expressly excluded from such local civil service systems. Article 10, § 15.
Part 2 of Article 10 is entitled "Fire and Police Civil Service." The initial provision, § 16, provides:
That section creates, as a matter of constitutional law, a system of fire civil service applicable to all parishes. Article 10, § 18 provides that while the legislature can make some modifications in the fire and police system, it cannot make the system inapplicable to any parish having a regularly paid fire department. Article 10, § 19 provides that no provision of Part 1 authorizing political subdivisions to be placed under the provision of that Part shall authorize the inclusion of firemen and policemen in a system under Part 1.
Jefferson Parish operates a regularly paid fire department; members of the department are included in the parish's general civil service system as provided in the parish's Home Rule Charter. The parish admits that "Jefferson Parish has not heretofore established a separate system of classified fire and police civil service as provided in LSA-R.S. 33:2531, et seq. and Article X, Section 16, et seq. of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974."
The parish contends that its firemen need not be included in the statewide special fire and police civil service system because its general system is operating under the parish Home Rule Charter, and the provisions of such charters were carried over by the Constitution.
Article 6, § 4 of the Constitution, on which the parish relies, provides ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Succession of Lauga
...expresses the view of the convention as a whole. See West v. Allen, 375 So.2d 758 (La.App. 4th Cir.1979), rev'd on other grounds, 382 So.2d 924 (La.1980). See also United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 384, 88 S.Ct. 1673, 1683, 20 L.Ed.2d 672 (1968); United States v. Trans-Missouri Freigh......
- State v. Scott
-
29,990 La.App. 2 Cir. 1/21/98, Owen v. City of Shreveport
...mandates a system of police civil service applicable to the City of Shreveport. La. Const. Art. 10, § 16; La. R.S. 33:2475; West v. Allen, 382 So.2d 924 (La.1980). Civil service statutes are designed to [29,990 La.App. 2 Cir. 4] secure adequate protection to career public employees from pol......
-
Hibernia Nat. Bank of New Orleans v. Bolleter
...was made, argued, or passed on by the court below." This court, therefore, should render such relief as the record supports. West v. Allen, 382 So.2d 924 (La.1980); Cox v. W. M. Heroman & Co., 298 So.2d 848 The judgments of the courts below are reversed, and this case is remanded to the dis......