Opinion ID: 1698641
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amount of Annual Leave

Text: La.Rev.Stat. 33:1996 [2] provides that a covered fireman, after one year of service, is entitled to eighteen vacation days annually with full pay. After ten years, the number of annual vacation days increases one day for each additional year of service, up to a maximum of thirty days per year. Commission Rule VIII, § 1.1 [3] provides that a covered City employee can accrue up to thirteen annual leave days in years one to four, up to sixteen days in years five to nine, and an additional three days for each five-year period thereafter, up to a maximum of twenty-five days of annual leave. When the statute and the Rule are compared, it is evident that the Rule restricts firemen to accruing less leave at a slower rate than the statute. Under the 1982 decision in New Orleans Firefighters, supra, the Civil Service Commission's power to adopt uniform pay scales must yield to the Legislature's plenary power to enact a law providing minimum wages for firemen. Accordingly, the Commission Rule must yield to the Revised Statute in the areas where the two are in conflict. We conclude that the lower courts correctly recognized the Firefighters full annual leave entitlement under La.Rev.Stat. 33:1996.