Court Opinion

ID: 9635036
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:33:05.186676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:14.933115
License: Public Domain

QUILLEN, Justice Ad Litem,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority. I would be less than candid if I did not admit that the decision reached by the majority is technically defensible on a narrow view of the issues presented by the record in this case. But nonetheless I find the decision is wrong and therefore I am compelled to express with regret a contrary conclusion. In my judgment, the majority has reached for a result which is contrary to the better legal construction on the narrow issues presented and, perhaps more importantly, because of the broader issues of public policy necessarily involved in this case, contrary to reason and common sense.
The chief error of the majority is its purported yielding to the legislative will by the linking of a series of technical interpretations while choosing to ignore what actually happened. In so doing, the majority has done violence to legislative intent and has imposed upon the State and its citizens a long term fiscal commitment by judicial fiat. However well-deserved a raise in judicial salaries, and I certainly agree that it is, it should not be accomplished by this Court usurping the function of the General Assembly. That is precisely the effect of what the majority has done.
This action is brought by the eleven Judges who comprise the Superior Court of the State of Delaware. The defendants are sued in their official capacities as Secretary of the Department of Finance, State Budget Director and State Treasurer.
There are two basic questions. First, is a cost of living supplement law (sometimes called cost of living adjustment or C.O.L.A.) enacted by 60 Del.Laws ch. 187 (Senate Bill 395 as amended by Senate Amendment 3 in the 128th General Assembly, sometimes hereinafter Senate Bill 395) applicable to the plaintiffs? Second, if the law is applicable to the plaintiffs, do such benefits become “salary or emoluments” of the plaintiffs’ office which could not thereafter be taken away during their terms? It is necessary to review the chronology in order to understand fully the two issues. I do so with assistance from the briefs in this Court and from the opinion below.
On September 30,1974, Governor Tribbitt issued Executive Order Number Fifty-Five thereby creating a “Governor’s Task Force on Cost-of-Living Pay Increase Formulas.” The duties of said Task Force were: “to review all pay scales used in compensating state employees, recommend any required changes in such pay scales, analyze various cost-of-living formulas to determine the most feasible for use by the State, price the cost of the formula for the following three fiscal years, and draft legislation for implementation of the formula if adoption is recommended.” Senate Bill 395 resulted from the efforts of this Task Force and was enacted into law as of June 30, 1975 as 60 Del.L. ch. 187. Section 1 thereof amended 29 Del.C. ch. 65 by adding a new § 6532 to read in part as follows:
§ 6532. Cost of Living Salary Supplements
“(a) All employees of the State shall be paid a salary supplement as a percentage of their base pay equivalent to the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the Philadelphia region .
“(c) For purposes of this section, an ‘employee’ is defined as one who works the regularly scheduled full-time hours of the employing agency or at least 30 or *19more hours per week or 130 hours per month (with allowable interruptions) throughout the year and is compensated with a regular State pay check.”
The section provided for a salary supplement calculated and, if appropriate, paid on a six month basis with a maximum of ten percent on an annual basis.
Subsequent to the enactment of 60 Del. Laws ch. 187, the Secretary of Finance, John E. Malarkey, asked for an opinion on whether the cost-of-living salary supplements authorized by 60 Del.Laws ch. 187 could be paid to full-time employees then receiving their statutorily authorized maximum salaries and to full-time employees whose titles are designed as line items in § 10, 60 Del.Laws ch. 113, the fiscal 1976 budget bill. The Attorney General, by letter dated March 29, 1976, in a qualification to his general response, concluded that public officers, as distinct from employees, were not entitled to the benefits of chapter 187. This conclusion necessarily raised a corollary question: Who were public officers? The Attorney General said in part the following:
“Based on the foregoing criteria, it is the opinion of this Office that the several cabinet secretaries, the judiciary, and members of the State's various boards and commissions clearly qualify as public officers. Therefore, they are not entitled to the benefits of Chapter 187.
The determination of which additional positions or individuals may qualify as public officers involves delicate questions of fact and construction which we decline to consider in the abstract and which are more properly left to administrative judgment. Accordingly, although a reasonable case can be made for classifying division directors of the State’s several executive departments and, perhaps, others in the class of public officers, we decline to recommend such action at this time. Rather, we recommend that the Council seek remedial legislation to clarify the meaning and intent of the Chapter. This approach will not only afford the Council an opportunity to review with the General Assembly the various administrative problems associated with the existing statutory language, but will also ensure that our conclusion that the General Assembly intended to exclude public officers from receipt of salary supplements under Chapter 187 will be reviewed promptly." (Emphasis added.)
Shortly thereafter, as part of House Bill 1274, as amended by House Amendment 1 in the 128th General Assembly, the fiscal 1977 budget bill at Section 53(a) and (d) thereof, the following amendments to this new § 6532 were adopted:
“(a) Amend Chapter 65, Title 29, Section 6532(a), Delaware Code, by striking said subsection (c) in its entirety.
******
“(d) Amend Chapter 65, Title 29, Section 6532(a), Delaware Code, by inserting immediately after the word ‘State’ and before the word ‘shall’ as the same appear in said section the following:
“ ‘, except elected and appointed officials,’ ”
60 Del.L. ch. 511 signed by Governor Tribbitt on July 1, 1976, having been introduced on June 28, 1976.1
While there is inconsistent terminology employed in Section 53(a) of House Bill 1274, it seems that its obvious purpose was to strike in its entirety the definition of the term “employee” as originally contained in § 6532(c) and, by adding the new qualifying language to § 6532(a), to make it clear that all State employees, expressly excluding elected and appointed officials, were entitled to the cost-of-living benefits provided by § 6532(a) regardless of the hours worked. Thus, the precise employee-officer distinction noted by the Attorney General was in effect confirmed.
Still later, by House Bill 1306 in the 128th General Assembly, a further amendment was made to § 6532 as follows:
*20“Section 1. Amend Section 6532(a), Title 29, Delaware Code by striking the words ‘, except elected and appointed officials,’ after the word ‘State’ and before the word ‘shall’ of said subsection and substituting in lieu thereof the following words:
‘, except elected officials, the judiciary, cabinet secretaries and members of boards and commissions,’.
“Section 2. Amend Section 6532, Title 29, Delaware Code by adding a new subsection which shall read as follows:
“(c) For purposes of this section, an ‘employee’ is defined as one who is compensated with a regular State pay check.
“Section 3. The effective date of this Act is July 1, 1976.”
60 Del.L. ch. 690 signed by Governor Trib-bitt on August 3, 1976, having been introduced on July 22, 1976.
The legislative synopsis appearing at the bottom of House Bill 1306 provides the following notation as to its purpose:
“This Bill clarifies the intent of House Bill No. 1274 as amended and enacted for the exclusion of the above-stated positions from receipt of cost-of-living salary adjustments and provides for the definition of an ‘employee’ previously deleted in the statutes.”
The application of the C.O.L.A. formula resulted in salary supplements in each of the two applicable six-month periods after its enactment until April 1,1977. 29 Del.C. § 6532(a). No adjustment, however, was made in the pay of these plaintiffs, and, due to administrative determination, they have received no benefit to date from the Act.
The operation of 29 Del.C. § 6532(a) was suspended by a further Act of the General Assembly, House Bill 172 of the 129th General Assembly, which rescinded the cost of living salary supplement scheduled to take effect on April 1, 1977. Finally, as to the pertinent legislative history, effective July 1, 1977, C.O.L.A. was abolished by the general repeal of 29 Del.C. § 6532(a) which was enacted as part of House Bill 300 as amended by House Amendment 27 and Senate Amendment 1, the fiscal 1978 budget bill. 61 Del.La.ws ch. 116, § 86(b), passed over Governor du Pont’s veto on July 6, 1977.
In the midst of this legislative activity, the plaintiffs on September 15, 1976 filed suit in the Court of Chancery. On July 22, 1977, Vice Chancellor Brown decided “that the purpose of the definition contained in subsection (e) of 29 Del.C. § 6532 as originally enacted was to limit and qualify which employees of the State would be entitled to the cost-of-living pay supplements authorized by subsection (a) and that it was not intended to expand the term ‘employees’ as used in subsection (a) to include public officers and members of the State Judiciary.” Stiftel v. Malarkey, Del.Ch., 378 A.2d 133, 138-139 (1977).2
The plaintiffs have appealed to this Court from the decision of the Vice Chancellor. It should be noted that the full thrust of the plaintiffs’ appeal is not simply that they are entitled to the two C.O.L.A. supplements which were in fact paid to employees included within the terms of Senate Bill 395 for the first two six-month periods. They also contend that, since they are public officers and not merely employees, the enactment of the C.O.L.A. formula creates “salary or emoluments” under Article XV, § 4 of the Constitution of the State of Delaware which cannot thereafter be diminished during any existing term of any plaintiff. Carper v. Stiftel, Del.Supr., 384 A.2d 2 (1977).3 Thus, the plaintiffs contend that they are unaffected by the two amendments expressly excluding them and by the suspension and repeal of the C.O.L.A. statute. They claim they are entitled to the benefit of its provisions for future six-month periods of varying numbers depend*21ing on the length of the remaining portion of the existing term of each plaintiff.4
While the case is not without its difficulty, I do not find that it is necessary to go beyond the threshold issue to reach a determination. For the reasons given by the Vice Chancellor and some additional reasons, I conclude that the plaintiffs are not within the definition of “employee” included in the original Senate Bill 395.
Plaintiffs urge that the terms of Senate Bill No. 395 are clear and unambiguous and that they are included within the statutory definition contained in subsection (c).5 The State also contends that the terms of Senate Bill No. 395 are clear and unambiguous but that plaintiffs are not included within the statutory definition contained in subsection (c). The State’s rationale is that judges are excluded from these benefits because they are “officers”, not “employees.”
I fail to be convinced by either side that 29 Del.C. § 6532, subsection (c), as originally enacted, is clear and unambiguous on its face.
“(c) For purposes of this section, an ‘employee’ is defined as one who works the regularly scheduled full-time hours . . . .” (Emphasis added.)
The term “one,” contained therein is an indefinite pronoun and strikes me as causing an inherently ambiguous definition on its face in the context of the original act.
Confirmation of this surface reaction is readily obtained by dictionary reference. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1971) at page 1575 gives two primary definitions of the pronoun “one”: (1) “a certain indefinitely indicated person or thing usually of a kind or under consideration”, citing the following example of usage: “had several current novels and let her borrow one”; or (2) “an individual of a vaguely indicated group: anyone at all: anyone in a general way”, citing this illustration of usage: “one wouldn’t like to see that happen”. In effect, the defendants and the Court below find that the word “one” in the original statutory definition at issue related to the kind of thing under consideration while the plaintiffs find it relates to anyone at all. Each definitional path is feasible. Moreover, the path chosen also can lead to conflicting results on the meaning of the statutory term itself, “employee”. The General Assembly has not expressed a preference of usage, nor is its intent ascertainable from the face of the statute. I therefore conclude that 29 Del.C. § 6532, Section 1, subsection (c) is unclear and ambiguous.
It is an accepted principle of statutory construction that, if the legislature does define the coverage of a statute by providing a definitional section, a court will be bound by that definition. Fox v. Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, 294 U.S. 87, 55 S.Ct. 333, 79 L.Ed. 780 (1935); 1A Sutherland, Statutory Construction (4th ed.) § 20.08. However, if that statutory definition is unclear or uncertain, then the court must construe that definition. Id. at § 27.02. See also 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 315, p. 538; State for Use of Altorfer Bros. Co. v. Dalrymple, 227 Minn. 533, 35 N.W.2d 714 (1949); Bonanno v. Bollo, 72 R.I. 278, 50 A.2d 621 (1946).
Having determined that 29 Del.C. § 6532 section 1, subsection (c) is unclear, it falls upon this Court to determine what the General Assembly intended by this definitional section. 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 322b(3), p. 588. The Court may resort to extrinsic facts or competent evidence which shows the meaning of the statute. 82 C.J.S. Statutes § 351, p. 736; Delaware Steeplechase and Racing Ass’n. v. Wise, Del.Supr., 27 A.2d 357 (1942). The Court may also look to a *22statute within the context of the overall pre-existing statutory scheme. Council 81, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. State, Del.Supr., 293 A.2d 567 (1972).
It seems to me that, in the area of benefits for those who work for the State, where there is an existing statutory and administrative structure of considerable mass, it is necessary to put on blinders to interpret the word “one” as the plaintiffs suggest. I think the statutory pronoun obviously relates to the category under consideration, employees, and the definitional section was designed primarily to eliminate certain parttime employees and not designed to remake the wheel by inserting a new statutory classification into a salary supplement for employees already on the payroll. Thus, I find that pronoun “one” refers back to “employee”. In effect, insofar as the word “employee” is concerned, the Court is close to the position of viewing 29 Del.C. § 6532 in Senate Bill 395 in the same light as a statute without a definitional section.
There are several factors which lead me to conclude that the statutory term “employee” does not include the plaintiffs, members of the Judiciary.
First, as the Court below found, while the distinction is not always clear, Delaware judicial opinions have recognized the existence of a legal distinction between public officers and public employees despite the fact that both officers and employees work for and are compensated by the State. State ex rel. Biggs v. Corley, Del.Ct. in Banc, 172 A. 415 (1934); Martin v. Trivitts, Del.Super., 103 A.2d 779 (1954); State ex rel. Green v. Glenn, Del.Super., 4 A.2d 366 (1939); Wharton v. Everett, Del.Super., 229 A.2d 492 (1967), aff’d on other grounds, Del.Supr., 238 A.2d 839 (1968). This general distinction suggests strongly that the plaintiffs are officers and not employees. Therefore, when the General Assembly uses the word “employee” in a statute it should not be interpreted as including public officers unless it is clearly so expressed. Wharton v. Everett, supra, 229 A.2d at 494. See also State v. Campbell, Del.Gen.Sess., 22 A.2d 390 (1941); Hollett v. Wilmington Trust Co., Del.Super., 172 A. 763 (1934). As noted by the Vice Chancellor, the very statute which directs salary payments draws the distinction between “state officials and employees”. 29 Del.C. § 2711; Stiftel v. Malarkey, supra, 378 A.2d at 139, ftnt.3.
Second, as the Court below noted, the Delaware judicial decisions in this regard are reflective of general common law in this definitional area. 63 Am.Jr.2d, Public Officers and Employees, § 11. Where a statute uses words which have a commonly accepted meaning at common law, absent a showing to the contrary, it is presumed the word is used in the sense which it is understood at common law. 1 Del.C. § 303; State v. Campbell, supra; Hollett v. Wilmington Trust Co., supra.
Third, in the particular original statutory definition, as noted by the Vice Chancellor, the definition qualifies and limits which employees of the State are entitled to the cost of living benefits. These words of hourly and paycheck limitation should not be read to expand by implication the generally accepted common law meaning of “employees” to include officers.
Fourth, in this case where the statute extends new benefits for the first time, it seems to me that any ambiguity should be conservatively resolved in order to assure that the class benefited remains within the possible limits of the class intended to be benefited. In short, a conservative construction guarantees that no one will be benefited beyond the intent of the General Assembly; a liberal construction does not. The subsequent action of the General Assembly confirms the wisdom of a conservative approach here.
Fifth, we are not writing on a blank slate in this case. There is a long history of judicial salary increases under the Constitution of 1897. That history demonstrates that judicial salaries have been considered as part of the law dealing particularly with *23salaries of public officers6 and judicial pay increases have been enacted, especially in recent years, entirely separately.7 Even with the advent of the merit system, the General Assembly has jealously maintained its independent legislative treatment of judicial salaries.8 It should also be noted in this regard that the General Assembly has established a separate judicial pension plan, favorable to judicial office in comparison to other officers and employees, which has independent legal significance under our State Constitution. 29 Del.C. ch. 65; Carper v. Stiftel, supra.
Sixth, it is interesting to compare an earlier general salary adjustment. 38 Del. Laws ch. 33, § 2 (1933). Due to the economic problems created by the depression, the General Assembly enacted a general salary reduction. It expressly affected “the annual salary of every officer and employee” of the State. But it was made “effective only if not in conflict with Section 4, Article XV of the Constitution of the State of Delaware” and particularly excepted the Judiciary. The General Assembly in 1933 thus recognized that using the term “employee” would not have included the Judiciary.
Seventh, while the issue before us comes to us in relative isolation, this Court should be mindful that it is dealing with a complex area of public administration on which the Attorney General has promptly spoken. Indeed, this Court has recognized by its own abstention that the area of benefits to those who work for the State is a complex area of administrative law. Dorsey v. State ex rel. Mulrine, Del.Supr., 283 A.2d 834 (1971); In re State Employees’ Pension Plan, Del.Supr., 364 A.2d 1228 (1976); Grant v. Nellius, Del.Supr., 377 A.2d 354 (1977); Carper v. Stiftel, Del.Supr., 384 A.2d 2 (1977). Since we are in an area where questions of construction are frequent and interrelated, it is important to give significant weight to a contemporaneous administrative interpretation. See 2A Sutherland, Statutory Construction (4th ed.) § 49.03 and § 49.08; State ex rel. Zebley v. Mayor and Council of Wilmington, Del.Super., 163 A.2d 258 (1960); Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. v. Krongold, Del.Super., 318 A.2d 606 (1974).
Eighth, in addition to the interpretation of the Attorney General on behalf of the executive branch of government, the General Assembly responded to the Attorney General’s suggestion for clarification. By two amendments to the Delaware Code, the General Assembly made it clear that judges were not intended to be included in the C.O.L.A. statute. 60 Del.Laws ch. 511 and ch. 722. Plaintiffs point to a cannon of statutory construction that the General Assembly is presumed to mean what it says, so that if it alters a statute, it is presumed to be making a change in it, rather than merely clarifying what was meant in the first place. But it is no answer to these enactments to say that they were changes and not clarification of the original statute. An equally respected principle of construction is that a presumption of a change in rights is merely a presumption which may be rebutted. 1A Sutherland, Statutory Construction, (4th ed.) § 22.30 at page 179 reads as follows:
Although a presumption of change in legal rights is probably reasonable in that amendment is more frequently used to add or take a provision from a law that to interpret it, the fact of amendment by itself does not indicate whether the change is of substance or form — whether a right is added to or taken from the original act, or whether a provision in the original act is merely being interpreted, *24that is, made more detailed and specific. To determine this the circumstances surrounding the enactment must be looked into. If they indicate the legislature intended to interpret the original act the presumption is rebutted. An amendment of an unambiguous statute indicates a purpose to change the law, whereas no such purpose is indicated by the mere fact of an amendment of an ambiguous provision. (Emphasis added.)
See also Kennedy v. Truss, Del.Super., 13 A.2d 431 (1940). The first amendment to 29 Del.C. § 6532 was made effective as of July 1, 1976, approximately three months after the opinion of the Attorney General was issued. The opinion was directed to Secretary Malarkey, the Secretary of Finance and Executive Secretary of the Advisory Council on State Salary Administration, and the first amendment was part of the fiscal 1977 budget bill. There is no basis for concluding that the legislative draftsmen were not aware of this opinion when the amendments were made. It is also probable that, if the draftsmen did not agree with the Attorney General’s interpretation, they would have amended § 6532 accordingly. Instead it appears that the General Assembly, triggered by the Attorney General, was merely interpreting the original provision by using more precise language. See 2A Sutherland, Statutory Construction (4th ed.) §§ 49.08, 49.09 and 49.10. It is of course possible to quibble about the form of both 1976 amendments but it is not substantively proper to interpret them to evidence an intent that the Judiciary was ever intended to be benefited. I attach no particular significance to the fact that the correction was achieved by exception rather than definition. The entire context of § 6532 must be examined at each stage in the legislative history and the subsections at each stage should be read together. The point is that, faced with an interpretation that officers were excluded, the General Assembly expressly confirmed the exclusion.9
Ninth, while there is little factual determination involved in this case, this Court should also be mindful that there was a trial in the Court below. Insofar as the plaintiffs and the majority opinion rely on the testimony of the Budget Director and the computations he made for funding purposes, it should be noted that the Vice Chancellor found the significance of his computations on the issue before this Court to lack “persuasive value”. Stiftel v. Malarkey, supra, at 378 A.2d 138. That determination is clearly correct. The Budget Director was given no guidelines and included the General Assembly members, who all agree were not intended to be included, and the Governor, who clearly cannot be Constitutionally included. Article III, § 7. It is also perhaps not insignificant that the opinion below added a view within the judicial branch in support of those previously expressed by the executive and legislative branches.
To my mind, the above factors lead to the conclusion that the plaintiffs were not included under the C.O.L.A. statute as originally enacted. But there are two other factors upon which plaintiffs rely which deserve special mention. First, plaintiffs say that the term “employee” is frequently used in our law to include public officers and consequently the distinction should not be drawn here. Second, plaintiffs argue that the legislative history demonstrates they were intended to be included within Senate Bill 395.
As to the first, it is true that for certain purposes the term “employee” is used in a context which includes public officers. Sometimes this inclusion is by necessity, e. g., 29 Del.C. § 6340(a) where public officers are included to enable the Budget Director to make up a complete State budget; sometimes the inclusion is to accomplish a particular objective, e. g., 50 Del.L. ch. 51 § 6 where Family Court Judges were formerly *25described as State employees to pinpoint the level of government responsible for their services. In short, this factor does no more than highlight the ambiguity that I have noted in Senate Bill 395. Statutes which expressly include public officers within the definition of employees for particular limited purposes are not controlling here.10
As to the second factor, plaintiffs cite from the legislative proceedings on the floor of the Senate place and rely particularly on the following exchange between Senator Berndt and Secretary Malarkey:
Berndt: Thank you Mr. President. You might have just answered my question in your remarks to Senator Hale. By these exempt employees, are we talking about secretaries, agency heads like the director of, like you.
Malarkey: Myself, sir.
Berndt: Like you.
Malarkey: I am an exempt employee, yes sir.
Berndt: This does nothing for secretaries and division heads and agency heads then?
Malarkey: The only thing, it allows, Senator, two things. One they will get whatever increase in the ’76 budget, if one was granted. And two, they will get the cost-of-living supplement if there was one which starts April 1st sir.
I will assume that the exchange means what the plaintiffs assert and demonstrates Malarkey’s opinion that Cabinet Secretaries were an illustration of exempt employees, a category which was to be covered by the C.O.L.A. statute. But the issue here is not the exempt employee versus the non-exempt employee. The issue here is officer versus employee. The officer-employee distinction and the exempt-non-exempt distinction are not synonymous. 29 Del.C. § 5903. It is true that, given the conclusion reached by me, Secretary Malarkey was mistaken as to his own coverage under the statute. But it was Secretary Malarkey himself who requested the Attorney General’s opinion which necessarily dealt with his own coverage. Thus, it did not take a judicial opinion to alert Secretary Malarkey to the questions of vagueness raised under the statute.
There is, in the legislative record on Senate Bill 395, nothing expressly included or necessarily implied to indicate that the General Assembly ever focused at all on the question of judicial salaries, a question which historically has been a matter of careful legislative scrutiny. Moreover, there is absolutely nothing to indicate that the General Assembly intended to change any law which would have Constitutional implications under the “salary or emoluments” clause.
It is ironic that the majority relies on the testimony of Secretary Malarkey to determine that officers were intended to be included within the C.O.L.A. law and concludes that the supplement was analogous to a conventional salary increase subject to the Constitutional prohibition against diminishment. Thus, they say, if the C.O. L.A. law was intended to apply to officers whose salaries were Constitutionally protected, its benefits as to such officers could not be terminated. This clearly was not the understanding of the General Assembly, for Secretary Malarkey himself stated on at least five occasions during legislative debate that the salary supplements were not automatic and that, if the General Assembly did not appropriate funding each year, there would be no benefits conferred. Note the following exchanges from the plaintiffs’ appendix.
At A-25, 26:
Malarkey: Well, of course, I’m not sure about the State revenue portion, Mr. Riddings, but the money must be appropriated each and every year by the General Assembly. It’s not an automatic .
Riddings: It must be appropriated every year?
*26Malarkey: Yes, sir.
At A-32:
Malarkey: The fact of the matter is, the money must be appropriated to pay this every year, Mrs. Smith.
Smith: Well, suppose we have no money to appropriate a 10 percent cost-of-living increase?
Malarkey: Well, in the wisdom of the General Assembly, you know, if they don’t appropriate, we can’t expend it. Smith: Very interesting.
At A-38-39:
Derrickson: Mr. Malarkey and if I may go over one point, this one more time and I know it’s late and I know you are as tired as we are. On this point of the activation of this thing each year, where the choice of the legislature is either to fund it or not to fund it. It seems to me that that’s rather unfair to a legislature in the future to command by law an increase and then to turn around and give them the option of reneging on that promise because this is what this amounts to is a promise of a percentile pay increase across the board for a set of state employees. It was my understanding that when the committee dealt with this, I’ll talk to at some length with Representative Sin-cock about this. It was my understanding when the committee dealt with this, that they were going to build into this bill an escape mechanism and as I understand what you say, the only escape mechanism that there is, is just that the legislature is going to have to renege and not fund any particular increase. Is that correct?
Malarkey: That is it Mr. Derrickson. As you know, you must appropriate every year.
At A-80-81:
Malarkey: I think, Senator [Castle], and I’m just maybe into philosophy a little bit and I’d like you to know that. I believe when you say abdicate your responsibilities; I think you’re only doing it for a year or so because every year when you pass a budget, if there’s no money, it can’t be funded.
At A-95-96:
Holloway: Mr. Malarkey, just want to be clear on a couple of points. Pass this legislation, even though the fiscal note makes projection for a couple of years beyond, if conditions in the State as such, that we cannot meet those other projections, everyone’s not clear that there’s no written mandate on the part of the General Assembly . Malarkey: Senator Holloway, I think in my answer to that would be similar to the one I gave to Senator Castle a little while ago, sir. The General Assembly, once even after this passes and becomes a part of the Code, the bill has to be funded each and every year, sir. Holloway: Well, what I’m saying sir, you’re saying it must be funded each year. But if the money isn’t there
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Malarkey: If you don’t put it in the budget sir, we can’t pay it.
I suspect the members of the 128th General Assembly are going to be somewhat surprised by this Court’s conclusion as to their intent given the assurances made to them. Certainly, the General Assembly believed that if for any reason they did not wish to appropriate funds, C.O.L.A. would cease. However, under the majority opinion expressed today, the General Assembly is Constitutionally required to fund the formula.
The General Assembly also understood that there could be a cut in salaries if the Consumer Price Index was a negative number. See Plaintiffs’ Appendix pages A-31, A-68, A-76, A-77. The failure to consider this understanding in relation to the Constitutional provision is just another indication that officers were not intended to be included.
In summary, as to construction question, historically in Delaware as well as elsewhere, the term “employee” has a separate meaning from “officer”. It is possible in a given context for the word “employee” to include the word “officer” if the General Assembly manifests such an intent. But, in this context, given a long history of careful *27legislative scrutiny and given the vagueness which surrounds the statutory definition, I agree with the Attorney General and the Court below that, absent a clear statement or a clear indication to the contrary, the Court in this case should not on its own, as a matter of statutory construction, imply that the term “employee” includes the term “officer”. The bare fact that “one” was used in the definitional section of subsection (c) of Senate Bill 395 is too thin a reed upon which to base a fundamental change in the General Assembly’s time-honored approach to judicial salaries.
While the above interpretation is perhaps sufficient to state my view of the case, I am uneustomarily left concerned with its insufficiency. My anxiety about what the Court had done would not exist if this case merely presented a difference on a typical question of statutory construction. But, it seems to me, if there was ever a failure to see the forest for the trees, it is in taking a narrow technical approach to the issues presented here. There are at least two overriding considerations which strongly dictate against the decision of the majority.
First, any fair concept of separate and independent powers of the three branches of government must give full recognition to the power of the legislative branch, the branch that the Constitution of 1897 describes first. It particularly ill behoves the Judiciary, which constantly and properly asserts its own Constitutional authority, to fail to recognize the Constitutional limitations expressed and the Constitutional restraints implied on judicial authority. Nowhere is legislative power clearer than in General Assembly’s traditional power to control the purse. Here the same General Assembly which passed Senate Bill 395 has said twice that the judges were to be excluded. That clearcut legislative expression should overwhelmingly override judicial construction of an ambiguous definition under the guise of yielding to legislative will. It should be noted that in its own sphere of influence the Judiciary sometimes finds it desirable to clarify judicial opinions after their issuance. See, for example, Singer v. Magnavox Co., Del.Supr., 380 A.2d 969 (1977). That discretionary freedom, reasonably exercised, is certainly preferable to the “card laid is a card played” mandate that the majority here imposes on the General Assembly. Thus, in my judgment, one unfortunate result of majority opinion here is a failure to maintain a healthy respect for the Constitutional role of the General Assembly.
Second, there is an ancient quotation:
“Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.”
Sir John Powell in Coggs v. Bernard, 2 Lord Raymond 909, 911 (1703); 92 Eng. Reprint 107; see also Coke, Institutes: Commentary upon Littleton, First Institute, § 138. Reason requires that we look at precisely what the Court has done.
We should focus on the dimension of the potential judicial expansion here. Assuming without deciding that the statute provides for compounding, if there was in fact an inflation rate of over ten percent a year and the maximum C.O.L.A. benefits attached, a $39,000 salary would compound annually to $62,809.89 in just five years, and to $101,155.96 in ten years. Given that kind of potential commitment, including a corresponding commitment under the pension law, reason requires that it should be made directly and openly with the General Assembly having a fair chance to appreciate what it is doing. The nature of the issue demands that the issue be put forthrightly before the General Assembly.
Moreover, the decision leaves the legislatively contemplated structure of judicial salaries in complete disarray. C.O.L.A. benefits, even without the statutes enacted after Senate Bill 395, are dependent on the time of appointment, thus disrupting the entire salary structure of the Judiciary. A trial court judge with several years of C.O. L.A. benefits could have a salary far in excess of a Supreme Court Justice. A Vice Chancellor serving midterm with C.O.L.A. benefits might have to take a salary cut to start a fresh term as Chancellor or Supreme Court Justice. These results are proper considerations which the Court here cavali*28erly dismisses. As this Court said in E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Clark, Del.Supr., 88 A.2d 436, 438 (1952):
“In determining the meaning of ambiguous statutory language, an appreciation of the results which may follow from one possible construction or another may, on occasion, be conclusive as to the correct construction to be placed upon the language, since an irrational, impractical or excessive result presumably could not have been intended by the Legislature.”
If the complete legislative history is considered, the result is even more irrational. The same judge in accepting a new term to the same office takes a pay cut. Chancellor Marvel, the most senior judge in the State in terms of service, does not get the C.O. L.A. benefit since his elevation to the Office of Chancellor came after July 1, 1976 and he will receive less pay than any Superior Court Judge and less pay than one Vice Chancellor. A judge with a term predating July 1, 1976 may not accept a judicial promotion to a higher office carrying a nominally higher salary because his salary would actually be cut severely due to the loss of the C.O.L.A. benefits. There are innumerable other consequences of the majority decision as to all officers who held office during the period the statute was in effect. The record does not disclose and I do not know the consequences of the majority decision and there is nothing to indicate that the majority knows those consequences. To characterize these results as “anomalous” seems to me to be a gross understatement. Such results are beyond the bounds of reason. Statutes should not be construed to require unreasonable, absurd or unworkable results. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Clark, supra, 88 A.2d at 438.
Finally, in terms of reason, we are dealing with salaries paid by the public and the public has right to understand what is done with its money. It is not just the General Assembly that is losing control over the purse, it is the public as well. The decision here should make common sense to the public. Law is good sense and what is contrary to good sense is not good law. Burke v. State, N.Y.Ct. of Claims, 64 Misc. 558, 119 N.Y.S. 1089, 1099 (1909). Obviously, there are difficult issues for public understanding but the pay of public officials should not be one of them. Although somewhat difficult, I think the public will understand the pension case decided today [Carper v. Stiftel, Del.Supr., 384 A.2d 2 (1977)] because it will understand that the State, as others, should keep its bargain made in an open covenant openly achieved. But I doubt if there will be public understanding on the expansive judicial construction here given the C.O.L.A. statute and the State Constitution. Any lack of public understanding will, in my judgment, be reasonable.
Since I find that plaintiffs were never included within the C.O.L.A. law, I need not determine and do not determine whether such benefits are “salary or emoluments” under Article XV, § 4 of the State Constitution. The State’s brief concedes such coverage would be Constitutionally protected. I note, however, that I am not necessarily convinced that ending for future years the formula cost-of-living salary supplement under consideration here would constitute a diminishment of salary. Compare Grant v. Nellius, supra.
I would affirm the decision of the learned Vice Chancellor.

. Although the parties stipulated that the legislative debate of H.B. 1274 could be admitted into evidence without formal proof, it does not appear as part of the record.

. The Vice Chancellor declined to disqualify himself for appropriate reasons. See Stiftel v. Malarkey, supra, at 378 A.2d 134, ftnt. 1. It should also be noted that the Vice Chancellor’s decision was against his own self-interest.

. The Constitutional provision reads: “No law shall extend the term of any public officer or diminish his salary or emoluments after his election or appointment.”

. The most advanced term among the plaintiffs will expire on March 10, 1978; the most recent term will expire on October 25, 1986. The anomaly of plaintiffs’ position, employees for C.O.L.A. — officers for “salary or emoluments”, is based on the statutory definition of “employee” in the C.O.L.A. statute.

. A stipulation establishes that plaintiffs satisfy the stated work minimums, are paid by regular state pay checks and are not getting the supplements to which plaintiffs feel entitled, through the application of the formula.

. See 1935 Rev.Code § 369 and 1915 Rev.Code § 395.

. The following acts since 1953 have raised judicial salaries and affected the Superior Court: 59 Del.L. ch. 472 (1974) from $31,000 to $39,000 in two steps; 57 Del.L. ch. 675 (1970) to $31,000; 55 Del.L. ch. 403 (1966) to $23,500; 52 Del.L. ch. 113 (1959) to $20,000.

. As footnote 6 suggests, the General Assembly has been both active and responsive to needs in the judicial salary area. This is not to say that the time is not ripe for reconsideration. Consider the $54,500 paid Federal District Judges for life. Indeed, the chronology alone suggests the time for a pay raise is now ripe.

. Similarly, the reference in Section 2 of Senate Bill 395, to the “pay plan for employees of the Judicial Branch other than the State Judiciary” does not relate to the officer-employee context but to the context of the fiscal 1976 budget bill, 60 Del.L. ch. 113, where the salaries of the Judiciary as well as employees are listed in “JUDICIAL” portion of the statute.

. For example 29 Del.C. § 5701 dealing with social security and 29 Del.C. § 5853 dealing with conduct of officers and employees.