Court Opinion

ID: 9648374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:16:40.849603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:59.477771
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, concurring in part, dissenting in part. I dissent from the majority on that part of the opinion which refuses to allow the appellees to continue to accrue sick-leave time after December of 1976 when the city passed Ordinance 4710.1 agree with the interpretation by the majority up through their interpretation of Ordinance 4322 which was effective in January of 1974. When the appellees were hired by the city of North Little Rock, the provisions of Ordinance 4322 provided: The city employee with less than ten (10) years service shall be paid, at the time of his retirement or resignation from city employment, or upon the death of the employee, for all sick leave accumulated by him, to a maximum of thirty (30) days. ... Appellees undoubtedly considered the accumulation of sick pay as part of the remuneration for their services with the city of North Little Rock. Sick leave, vacation, hospitalization and life insurance are elements which strongly influence an individual in accepting or rejecting job offers. In my opinion, when the appellees were hired this ordinance became a part of their contract. The city had no right to take away benefits which were, in my opinion, already vested. It seems to me that the language above-quoted is clear and unambiguous and therefore we need not resort to the rules of statutory construction to determine the meaning thereof. Mears v. Arkansas State Hospital, 265 Ark. 844, 581 S.W. 2d 339 (1979). The rules of statutory construction, if required, apply to city ordinances as well as enactments of the General Assembly. Deloney v. Rucker, 227 Ark. 869, 302 S.W. 2d 287 (1957). We have held that a city may be bound by the terms of contracts entered into by it in the same manner as private corporations or citizens. Harrison v. Boone County, 238 Ark. 113, 378 S.W. 2d 665 (1964). The right to accumulate up to 30 days sick leave was a part of the ordinances of the city of North Little Rock when the appellees were hired. The majority recognize that the authorities are divided as to whether sick leave benefits are vested as a matter of contractual rights. Since we are ruling upon this particular issue for the first time, there is no reason why we should take the reactionary road and hold against those who have worked with the expectation that they would earn the benefits which had been promised them. The majority has been very fair in citing the authorities on both sides of this issue. However, I feel the case of Yeazell v. Copins, 402 P. 2d 541 (Ariz. 1965), furnishes the most logical reasoning of all cases reported. Yeazell stated that policemen had the right to rely on the terms of the legislative enactment as it existed at the time they started to work. Subsequent legislation could not arbitrarily be applied retroactively to impair the contract. The opinion stated that changes could be made only with the consent of the officers involved. It is true Yeazell dealt with pension rights and the present case deals with accumulated sick leave. However, I can see no difference in the logic between the two benefits. We have held in a closely related case that accrued rights may not be denied to those who have earned them. In the case of Jones v. Cheney, 253 Ark. 926, 489 S.W. 2d 785 (1973), we stated: The classes of contracts entered into voluntarily that are based on the assent of the parties expressly or impliedly given as opposed to those that are compulsory, are protected by the Constitutional provisions against impairing the obligation of a contract. In Anders v.Nicholson, 111 Fla. 849, 150 So. 639 (1933), it was held under a municipal ordinance providing for pensions to employees who should elect to participate in, and contribute to, the pension fund, that a public employee by acceptance of the terms and conditions of the enactment entered into a contractual relationship with the city, which entitled him to receive certain benefits, and his rights accruing under the statute could not be abrogated by any subsequent legislation. ... I think the sick-leave benefits were a part of the consideration paid to the employees and that the city had no right to deny the appellees these benefits after the contract between the parties was in full force and effect.