Court Opinion

ID: 9669898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:10:38.357103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:00.988226
License: Public Domain

*113HAWTHORNE, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the decree remanding this case for further proceedings. However, it is my view that the case should be remanded so that the State Civil Service Commission can determine as a fact whether Mrs. .Lelia Murray Day was dismissed by the Department of Institutions or whether she voluntarily resigned her position in that department. If the Commission should find on the remand that the employee voluntarily resigned, in my opinion that would end the matter. Under Article 14, § 15(O) (1), of the Louisiana Constitution, the decision of the Commission is final on a question of fact, and on appeal this court can review only a question of law. No question of law would be presented if it were found that the employee in this case resigned voluntarily.
I take issue principally with the statement in the majority opinion that “ * * * In order to make effective the removal of the subject employee from the payroll, the fact of the acceptance of her alleged oral resignation and of her removal from the payroll should have been made known by a statement in writing to her and to the Director in advance of such action”.
In arriving at this conclusion the majority opinion cites and relies on Boucher v. Division of Employment Security, 226 La. 227, 75 So.2d 343,1 in which it was held that a person who has acquired civil service status cannot be demoted, dismissed, or discriminated against by the appointing authority unless the employee and the director are furnished in advance of such action with a statement in writing giving explicit reasons therefor, etc. The majority also relies on Article 14, Section 15(N) (1), of the Louisiana Constitution, which provides that no person with permanent civil service status shall be demoted, dismissed, or discriminated against except for cause expressed in writing by the appointing authority, and on Rule XII of the Commission, which provides, among other things, that, in every case of removal or reduction in pay of a regular employee or demotion or other disciplinary action of such employee, the appointing authority shall furnish the employee and the director a statement in writing giving explicit and detailed reasons therefor.
In my view, however, these authorities have no application and are not controlling unless the Commission should find on the remand that the employee in the instant case did not voluntarily resign, for an employee who has voluntarily resigned has obviously not been “demoted, dismissed, or discriminated against by the appointing authority”. The rules of the Civil Service Commission support my conclusion in this respect. These rules declare that certain words and phrases shall have certain designated meanings when used in the rules. “ ‘Removal or Dismissal’ means the termination of employment of an employee for *115cause”, and “ ‘Resignation’ means the voluntary termination of employment of an employee”. Civil Service Rules, Rule I. Therefore, when Rule XII of the Commission declares that in every case of removal of an employee the appointing authority shall furnish the employee and the director a statement in writing giving reasons for the removal, it means that the written statement is required when the employee is removed for cause, and not when the employee voluntarily terminates his employment.
The majority opinion has overlooked the definition of “removal” which is given by the Commission in its rules, and has interpreted “removal” to mean removal from the payroll for any reason whatsoever.
Therefore I concur in the decree remanding this case to the Civil Service Commission.

. See also Anderson v. Division of Employment Security, 227 La. 432, 79 So.2d 565; Colvin v. Division of Employment Security, 227 La. 774, 80 So.2d 404.