Title: Jones v. Louisiana Department of Highways
Citation: 250 So. 2d 356, 259 La. 329
Docket Number: N/A
State: Louisiana
Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court
Date: June 28, 1971

250 So. 2d 356 (1971) 259 La. 329 Claud JONES v. LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS. Nos. 50860, 50864. Supreme Court of Louisiana. June 28, 1971. Norman L. Sisson, Robert J. Jones, Robert L. Roshto, Baton Rouge, for defendant-relator. Mouser &amp; Boothe, Holmes M. Mouser, Columbia, for plaintiff-respondent. R. Gray Sexton, Baton Rouge, for Director of Personnel, State Dept. of Civil Service. DIXON, Justice. Claud Jones appealed his dismissal from the Department of Highways. The Civil Service Commission sustained the dismissal, and an appeal was perfected to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, which reversed the commission and reinstated Jones. Writs were granted on the application of both the Louisiana Department of Highways (No. 50864) and the Director of Personnel of the Louisiana State Department of Civil Service (No. 50860). Jones was employed as an inspector of highway machinery and equipment, charged with traveling throughout the highway district to "insure the proper use, maintenance and repair of all motorized equipment assigned to the Highway Districts." His home was designated as his base of operations, and he kept his own time and expense records, on which his pay was based. The letter of dismissal from Jones' employer charged him with falsifying the payroll record and submitting a fraudulent expense account on four days of a two week pay period. In dismissing his appeal, the Civil Service Commission found from the evidence presented to it that Jones was clearly guilty of the misconduct charged. *357 In reversing, the Court of Appeal (237 So.2d 916) found the commission's decision "based on conclusions unsupported by any evidence and as being without legal cause." "Legal cause" for removal, the Court of Appeal found, was defined in Leggett v. Northwestern State College, 242 La. 927, 140 So. 2d 5, 9: It should be noted early that the Leggett case involved off-the-job conduct of a campus policeman. He was charged, tried and found not guilty in city court of operating a disorderly house. Nevertheless, the commission examined the evidence concerning Leggett's business, a sort of one-cot bawdy house, and found its disreputable character established beyond doubt. The Supreme Court held the commission's findings to be supported by the evidence, and concluded that: "we cannot say that under the facts found by the commission there was no real and substantial relation between the conduct of Leggett and the efficient operation of the public service." In the case before us, Jones is not charged with off-the-job misconduct, but with falsifying his pay records and receiving pay for time not worked, as well as reimbursement for meals not bought. The misconduct charged was a violation of civil service rules. The Court of Appeal found that the record before it did not show that the violations charged would "prejudice the efficiency of the service, and did not demonstrate an intent on the part of the employee to defraud the Highway Department." The findings of fact of the Civil Service Commission are final. (Louisiana Constitution Article 14, Section 15(O) (1) "The decision of the appropriate Civil Service Commission shall be final on the facts. * * *"). This basic law was recognized by the Court of Appeal, but the Court of Appeal concluded that the findings of fact of the commission were not supported by any evidence. With this conclusion we cannot agree. The findings of fact of the Civil Service Commission are, in part, as follows: The Court of Appeal found that there was no evidence to support the commission's finding that Jones' work day was scheduled to be an eight hour day. At the hearing before the commission, Jones himself testified that it was common knowledge or a "common understanding" that his work day was supposed to be eight hours. On his time sheet for each day for which there is any evidence in the record, Jones himself entered eight hours. Civil Service Rule 11.1 provides that the work week for each employee is forty hours. Civil Service Rule 14.1.1(c) prohibits making false statements or reports with regard to the employment. The length of Jones' work day was never at issue before the commission. Jones' own admission and the civil service rules made it unnecessary for the commission to produce any additional evidence that Jones' work day was an eight hour day and that his work week was a forty hour week. The Court of Appeal found that Jones' false application for reimbursement of expenses for meals, although violating the letter of a memorandum of instructions, did not suggest fraud. The Civil Service Commission, in addition to the findings of fact noted above, made the following finding: The findings of the commission are supported by ample evidence. Its conclusions are correct. Civil Service Rules have the force of law. Louisiana Constitution, Article 14, Section 15(I) provides: Unlike the case of off-the-job conduct, such as that in the Leggett case, disciplinary action for the violation of Civil Service Rules need not be supported by independent evidence of impairment of the efficiency of the service nor by independent evidence of intent of employee to defraud. No such requirement is to be found in the Constitution. As long as the action against the employee fulfills the requirements of the law, is not arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory, and is supported by evidence, it will not be disturbed by the courts. The judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed, and there is now judgment reinstating and affirming the decision of the Civil Service Commission in dismissing the appeal of Claud Jones.