Case Name: Vincent BRUNO v. DEPARTMENT OF POLICE
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1983-06-29
Citations: 451 So. 2d 1082
Docket Number: No. 12506
Parties: Vincent BRUNO v. DEPARTMENT OF POLICE.
Judges: Before GARRISON, AUGUSTINE and WARD, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 451
Pages: 1082–1111

Head Matter:
Vincent BRUNO v. DEPARTMENT OF POLICE.
No. 12506.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
June 29, 1983.
On Rehearing June 6, 1984.
Frank J. Larré, David K. Joyce, Jefferson, John H. Brooks, Gretna, for plaintiff-appellant.
Charles J. Willoughby, Asst. City Atty., Salvador Anzelmo, City Atty., New Orleans, Grant E. Morris, Washington, D.C., Bruce E. Naccari, Asst. City Atty., Ber-nette J. Johnson, Galen S. Brown, Deputy City Attys., New Orleans, for defendant-ap-pellee.
Before GARRISON, AUGUSTINE and WARD, JJ.

Opinion:
AUGUSTINE, Judge.
On March 14, 1980, Officer Vincent J. Bruno was dismissed from the New Orleans Police Department for having violated departmental regulations governing the conduct of police officers while on sick leave. Bruno appealed his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission of the City of New Orleans and, following lengthy trial, the Commission affirmed, finding just cause for Bruno's termination. By this appeal, Vincent Bruno seeks reversal of the Commission's findings.
I
From the outset, it is critical to define clearly and objectively the true bounds of this controversy, for there can be no denial that long before the events which directly concern us today, these disputants had become embroiled in a bitter political conflict whose direct result was the policeman's strike and ensuing cancellation of Mardi Gras in February of 1979. Officer Bruno, it will be recalled, was the leader of the striking union, the Policeman's Association of New Orleans (P.A.N.O.), and it was he who suffered the wrath of many of our citizenry and city officials in whose minds Bruno caused the ruin of "the greatest free show on earth." But such consequences cannot deter us from our proper object, which is to separate that which is truly at issue from that which is not. Any objective inquiry concerning the propriety and legality of Bruno's dismissal must therefore begin with this simple question, and no other:
Did Officer Bruno violate New Orleans Police Department regulations governing conduct while on sick leave?
II
The Regulations
The specific regulations said to have been breached by Officer Bruno are:
1) Departmental Regulation 630-3, par. 3 — "An employee on sick leave shall not leave his residence or other authorized location of confinement prior to returning to duty from sick leave, except as provided herein."
2) D.R. 630-3, par. 4. "Employees who must visit personal physicians during periods of sick leave shall notify their unit accordingly..."
3) D.R. 630-3, par. 6. "When it is necessary for an employee to leave his place of confinement to purchase medicines or meals not available at his place of confinement, notification shall be made to the employee's Unit or the Command Desk..."
4) D.R. 630-3, par. 9. "Employees on extended sick leave, for an illness or any injury, may arrange for advance approval from the Medical Section for activities related to continued treatment, convalescence and rehabilitation so that notification of each instances (sic) of leaving the place of confinement will not be necessary."
On October 25, 1978, D.R. 630-3, paragraph 9, supra, was modified to insure that
"an employee who has permission from his attending physician to leave his place of confinement shall secure departmental permission through the chain of command from the Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent of Police. Such request must be secured prior to the employee actually leaving his place of confinement."
The above regulations were again amended on November 4, 1979 — about two weeks after Bruno's sick leave began — by ASOP 75.0, a series of regulations which included the following:
"2. . A member of sick leave shall remain in his residence or other approved place of confinement for the entire sick leave period, except to visit a physician, hospital, clinic, purchase meals or purchase medicine. The member shall notify his Unit of assignment before leaving and upon returning from such a visit... (Emphasis added).
Ill
The Undisputed Facts
The following conduct on the part of the appellant is undisputed:
1) October 21, 1979 — At his request, appellant was placed on sick leave because of an ear infection. Bruno listed his place of confinement as Norgate, New Jersey.
2) October 22, 1979 — The day after being placed on sick leave, Officer Bruno travelled to Ventnor, New Jersey.
3) November 24, 1979 — Appellant trav-elled to Detroit, Michigan, where for three days, he engaged in activities related to his position as leader of PANO. From Detroit, Bruno travelled to Washington, D.C., and Miami, where he again conducted union activities.
4) November 30, 1979 — Sergeant Clo-gher and Sergeant Taylor placed a telephone call to the appellant at his residence, but received no answer. Bruno admitted that he was not home at the time, and explained that earlier, he had called Urban Squad (appellant's regular unit) to report his intention to keep an appointment with his doctor, but that the line was busy.
5) December 13, 1979 — Vincent Bruno participated as a judge in a talent contest held at a Fat City nightclub.
6) December 28, 1979 — Appellant was interviewed by reporters at the studios of television station WWL.
7) January 6, 1980 — Officer Bruno failed to appear at a scheduled conference with Sergeant Liniel W. Thompson. Bruno explained his absence as due to lack of communication about the time and place of the meeting.
8) January 12, 1980 — Bruno met the City's Chief Administrative Officer, Rey-nard J. Rochon, at a downtown hotel to discuss Bruno's union activities and the apparent impropriety of conducting such activities while on sick leave.
9) January 16, 1980 — Officer Bruno was interviewed by news reporters for WWL, away from his place of confinement.
10) January 22, 1980 — Officer Bruno addressed a Mardi Gras organization, the Krewe of Endymion, at a mid-city hotel.
11) January 23, 1980 — Officer Bruno left his place of confinement to attend a PANO meeting at the Carpenter's Hall, 315 South Broad Street, New Orleans.
12) January 31, 1980 — Officer Bruno attended a fund raiser for President Carter at a downtown hotel.
13) February 5, 1980 — Officer Bruno attended a PAN O meeting, away from his place of confinement.
14) February 29, 1980 — Officer Bruno was interviewed at the WDSU television studio in New Orleans' French Quarter.
15) Sometime between March 1 and March 14, 1980 — Bruno travelled to New York and Philadelphia to conduct union activity. Bruno freely admitted having made this trip, but could not specify the date, recalling only that the trip was some time in March 1980, prior to his dismissal.
16) March 10, 1980 — Officer Bruno appeared on a radio talk show.
17) March 14, 1980 — Appellant is dismissed from the New Orleans Police Department. That same day, Bruno departed for Cincinnati, but it cannot be known from the record whether Bruno's travel arrangements had already been made as of the time he received notice of termination, nor is it clear whether Bruno received the letter before departing.
The City's chief contention is that each of Bruno's above-cited departures from his place of confinement was without authority and without notice to his superiors, and therefore contrary to departmental regulations. We acknowledge the merit of the City's position.
To reiterate, Officer Bruno readily concedes each of the above-cited departures from his place of confinement. It must be borne in mind that under the regulations, when an officer departs his place of confinement for any purpose other than to purchase meals or medicine, or to visit a physician, mere notification of departure to the officer's unit or command desk is not sufficient. Such activities as judging a talent contest or addressing a Mardi Gras Krewe plainly require "departmental permission through the chain of command from Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent of Police". D.R. 630-3, par. 9, (as modified) supra. (Emphasis added). The evidence clearly shows that no such permission was ever sought or granted.
Had Officer Bruno sought permission to conduct his varied activities, regulations required that he initiate arrangements with the first link in his chain of command, his commanding officer, Rinal Martin. When called as a witness before the Commission, Lt. Martin unequivocally stated that at no time did Bruno obtain permission to travel to Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, etc., or to judge a talent contest, or to conduct interviews away from his place of confinement. Indeed, Bruno did not even notify Lt. Martin or any other superior officer of his intention to conduct such activities. It follows that Bruno was in clear violation of departmental regulations.
As we have already pointed out, appellant was fully aware of the impropriety of his conduct, for that was a principal topic of his discussion with the City's Chief Administrative Officer, Reynard Rochon, on January 12, 1980. The purpose of the meeting was to reconcile Bruno's commitments to the union with his commitments as a police officer. It thus appears to us that inasmuch as the meeting was at Bruno's instance, he earnestly sought to avoid confrontation with the City and the Superintendent of Police, James C. Parsons.
Bruno could not reconcile his union activities with his duties as a police officer, however, unless he were placed on extended furlough, and thus be released from the sick leave regulations. Confrontation became inevitable, then, when Bruno's requests for extended furlough were denied, first, by Lt. Martin, and later by the Deputy Chief of Police David Kent.
At the hearing of this matter, Kent testified that on January 20, 1980, he informed Bruno that he could not be carried on furlough because, as Kent expressed it:
"His professional obligation (was) to return to a full duty status. By that I meant to working status, at which time he could then make petition or request to be carried on annual leave."
During that same conversation, Kent told Bruno that it would constitute a violation of departmental policy to be away from his place of confinement without prior approval. Kent accompanied his warning with the observation that given Bruno's high degree of visibility, such conduct while on sick leave jeopardized not only Bruno's public image but the department's as well. This appeal to Bruno's sense of duty and propriety, however, went unheeded — two days later, Bruno addressed the annual gathering of the Krewe of Endymion.
Further testimony from Bruno's chain of command was offered by Superintendent of Police, James Parsons, who categorically denied having given Bruno permission to change his place of confinement from Nor-gate, N.J. to Ventnor, or New York, or Philadelphia, or Cincinnati, or Miami, and denied giving Bruno authority to engage in any of the activities in question. Finally, with respect to the critical question whether Bruno had ever received permission, Bruno himself admitted to the Internal Affairs Division on March 7, 1980 that he could not recall having even notified any officer of his intention to depart his place of confinement. Although Bruno later re tracted that statement before the Commission, explaining that at the time of the statement, he was under the influence of Valium, the Commission was warranted in disregarding his recantation, for several witnesses to his condition at the time testified that he was coherent and in full control of his faculties. Moreover, not a single desk officer was able to verify that Bruno had called to notify of his departures to secure medicines, meals, and so on, as required by D.R. 630-3, par. 6, supra.
But that is not the focus of our concern. For Bruno to seek vindication on the premise that he notified his desk officer is to inject a bogus defense, for as we have stated, mere notification of that sort cannot serve as the sufficient requisite to the types of activities which Officer Bruno conducted. Regulations required that he first obtain permission through the chain of command, and it is clear that this was not done.
Appellant argues that even if it be proved that his conduct violated the regulations in an objective sense, he should nevertheless be excused for lack of knowledge of those rules. He claims subjective innocence.
That defense is untenable. It is inconceivable to us that a police officer of Bruno's experience could hopscotch from one state to another on personal business, conduct radio and television interviews, judge a nightclub talent show, and address a Mardi Gras krewe without knowing that he was, in the process, running afoul of sick leave regulations.
In any event, the City does not merely posit Bruno's constructive notice of regulations. During Bruno's hearing before the Internal Affairs Division on March 7, 1980 —wherein the appellant informed his superiors for the first time that the illness which required his absence from duty was no longer an ear infection, but a heart condition — Bruno was ordered to undergo an immediate physical examination which was completed that same afternoon by physicians at the Tulane University School of Medicine. The examining doctors found nothing which might impede appellant's job performance, whereupon Chief Parsons personally ordered Bruno to return to duty. Bruno defied that order by appearing on a radio talk show during working hours only three days later. Immediately after the broadcast, Bruno was called at the radio station by his commanding officer, Lt. Martin, who reiterated Chief Parson's order to return to duty. On his way home from the station, Bruno called Lt. Martin to advise that he (the appellant) had just then suffered a heart seizure. Lt. Martin then withdrew the order to return to work, but reminded Bruno that only a few days before, he had been found fit for duty by a qualified physician.
It is obvious to us that in the eyes of Superintendent Parsons and Chief Deputy Kent, Bruno's post-examination behavior was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Four days after Bruno's talk show interview, Chief Parsons drafted Bruno's letter of dismissal.
We thus proceed to answer the first question, and hold that since it has been amply demonstrated that Officer Bruno did not on any occasion obtain permission from the chain of command to leave his place of confinement, it necessarily follows that in every instance cited, the appellant knowingly and intentionally violated N.O.P.D. sick leave regulations.
IV
The Dismissal
The only remaining question is whether Bruno's violations were so serious as to warrant his dismissal. We hold that they were.
In determining whether an employee should be dismissed for off duty misconduct, the test is whether there is a real and substantial relation between the conduct of the employee and the efficient operation of the public service. Leggett v. Northwestern State College, 242 La. 927, 140 So.2d 5, 9 (La.1962).
As we apply the above test, it cannot escape our knowledge that Officer Bruno's outright defiance of departmental authority is impressive by its sheer frequency and duration. Over the course of five full months, from October 1979 until March 1980, the appellant committed no less than fifteen separate violations of sick leave policy. In each instance, Bruno flouted a regulation whose reasonableness should be apparent to anyone even vaguely aware of the need for discipline within a large urban police department. Indeed, the principle upon which the regulation is based is so self-evident as to dispense with explanation. True, the police department did not formally contest Bruno's assertion that he had been ill throughout the period in question, but any employer would rightly feel betrayed upon witnessing the prolonged breach of trust evidenced here. Officer Bruno's employer was the City, or more correctly, the taxpaying public, who must have considered themselves betrayed upon learning that Officer Bruno received pay— their tax dollars — during his absence from duty. It is natural that appellant's conduct should engender among the people a generalized contempt for our entire system of law enforcement. Such destructive consequences are intolerable to a well ordered police department, whose character must remain beyond public reproach, and it cannot be proposed that Officer Bruno's status as a once highly visible union leader confers any immunity not enjoyed by his fellow officers. The misconduct which spawned these consequences demands the most emphatic rejection.
There may be those who believe, as my dissenting brother does, that Officer Bruno was a purely political casualty. But it cannot matter that the appellant's chief adversaries were the Superintendent of Police and the City Administration, unless it be clearly proved on the record that the dismissal was motivated principally by revenge and vindictiveness. The record before us is empty of such proof, and indeed appellant himself does not seek reversal on those grounds.
Moreover, it cannot seriously be contended that Officer Bruno was singled out for discriminatory treatment. We are convinced that had any officer of the New Orleans Police Department conducted himself as Officer Bruno did, he would have been dismissed from his duties. The proof of this is that in 1977, Officer James M. Willem received a ninety day suspension for violating the same regulations. We upheld that penalty on appeal, even though Willem's single transgression was to appear at a bar without reporting to authorities. See Willem v. City of New Orleans Dept. of Police, 368 So.2d 1235 (La.App. 4th Cir.1979). Similarly, in Timmons v. Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board, 395 So.2d 1372 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1981), the Court affirmed the dismissal of a police officer who was discovered in a bar while on sick leave. There, it was said that:
"A police departmental order prohibiting an officer on sick leave from drinking in a bar or lounge bears a real and substantial relationship to the appropriate governmental objective of maintaining public confidence in the police force. The departmental order bears a reasonable relation to the goal sought to be attained by the police department, i.e., integrity and confidence in the police force, and the order was adopted in the interest of the community as a whole. Everett v. Goldman, 359 So.2d 1256 (La. 1978). It is clearly a valid objective of the police department to prevent off duty sick police officers from frequenting barrooms. Public confidence in the police force could be severely undermined if police officers who were allegedly sick were allowed to continue to frequent bars and lounges. Timmons, supra, at 1376. (Emphasis added).
In conclusion, we hold that there was a real and substantial relation between the conduct of Officer Bruno and the efficient operation of the New Orleans Police Department, and that the dismissal was neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, but founded upon good cause.
For the reasons assigned, the findings of the Civil Service Commission are hereby affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
GARRISON, J., dissents with reasons.
. These regulations went into effect on June 22, 1975.
. Interoffice Correspondence, Department of Police, October 25, 1978. Submitted in evidence as City Exhibit No. 1.
. Appellant's own brief states, at page 10:
"What motivated Superintendent Parsons and his subordinates to want to dismiss Officer Bruno probably does not interest this Court. Counsel for appellant will be satisfied to submit to this Honorable Court that Officer Bruno received no notice, nor had he been sanctioned (suspended, et cetera) previously for sick leave abuse. Therefore reprimand, or possibly suspension, seems an adequate as (sic) punishment."
We respond, first, that Chief Deputy Kent had warned Officer Bruno as early as January 20, 1980 that his conduct was in violation of departmental regulations. Moreover, Officer Bruno's conduct prior to the events charged was not at issue before the Commission, nor should it be at issue here. We are concerned only with the violations alleged to have occurred between October 21, 1979 and March 14, 1980.