Court Opinion

ID: 9763259
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:39:46.567215+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:40.245846
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge PELLEGRINI.
Because a person who is on a “leave of absence,” paid or unpaid, does not hold a “position” in the “classified civil service,” Roy Pinto (Pinto) was not subject to or in violation of Sections 905.2(b)(7) and (b)(10) of the Civil Service Act (Act).1 Because the majority concludes that he was subject to but not in violation of the Act, I concur in the result only.
Pinto was on a paid leave of absence from his Corrections Officer 1 position, a classified civil service position, with the Department of Corrections (Department) to work full-time as the elected Vice Presi-dént of the Eastern Region of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (Union). Pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement with the Union, the Department granted Pinto leave without pay for the maximum term of office, not to exceed three years. From June 1 to November 19, 2001, the Union paid Pinto his full compensation. Pursuant to the State Employees’ Retirement Code (Code)2, the Union requested that the Department grant Pinto leave “with pay” to make his retirement seniority retroactive to his start date in the Union which was approved. Under this provision, the Department paid Pinto his salary and benefits which were completely reimbursed by the Union to the Commonwealth. The net effect was that Pinto was able to earn credit for State service and to participate in the State employment retirement plan during his leave of absence while working for the Union.
While on leave “with pay” in his capacity as Vice President of the Union, Pinto sent a letter to Edward Rendell endorsing his candidacy for governor stating that the members of the Union had voted to endorse Rendell. The Commission held an investigatory hearing to determine whether Pinto had engaged in prohibited political activity in violation of Sections 905(b)(7) and (b)(10) of the Act which provide that:
No person in the classified service shall take an active part in political management or in a political campaign. Activities prohibited by this subsection *599include, but are not limited to, the following activities:
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(7) Soliciting votes in support of or in opposition to a candidate for public office in a partisan election or a candidate for political party office.
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(10) Endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office in a partisan election or a candidate for political party office in a political advertisement, a broadcast, campaign, literature or similar material. (Emphasis added.)
Ultimately, the Commission concluded that he was subject to disciplinary action because only employees who took a leave without pay to work in a non-civil service position were exempt from the Act’s political activity prohibitions. Because Pinto had changed his leave status to a classified service employee on paid leave in order to receive retirement benefits and the letter constituted impermissible activities, the Commission found he was subject to the Act and suspended him without pay for five days from his employment.
On appeal, the majority reverses the Commission’s decision concluding that while Pinto was subject to the Act because he was on a paid leave of absence, he was not in violation of the Act because there was insufficient evidence to prove that he was engaging in prohibited political activity. However, in reaching that holding, the majority agreed with the Commission that Pinto was subject to that provision of the Act because he was receiving retirement credits while on leave from his State job, and “an individual in Pinto’s position could only receive retirement credits if he is a State employee on paid leave.” (Majority opinion at 6-7.) I write separately because whether Pinto did or did not violate the Act is irrelevant as I disagree that Pinto was even subject to the Act.
Not all state employees are foreclosed from engaging in political activity enumerated by the Act; only employees who are in the “classified civil service.” Section 3(d)(4) of the Act, 71 P.S. § 741.8(d)(4), defines “classified service” to include: “All positions now existing or hereafter created under the State Civil Service Commission.” Subsection 3(f) defines “position” as “a group of current duties and responsibilities assigned or delegated by competent authority requiring the full-time or part-time employment of one person.” This means that for an employee to be part of the classified service, he or she must be performing current duties to be holding a position in the classified civil service. Because Pinto is not performing any current duties for the Commonwealth, then he cannot be a member of the “classified civil service.”
That an employee has to have current duties to be considered a member of the classified civil service is confirmed by Section 807.1 of the Act, 71 P.S. § 741.807, which provides the following regarding leaves of absence:
An employe who has been granted a leave of absence at the discretion of an appointing authority shall, upon expiration of the leave of absence, have the right of return to the class and civil service status which he previously held, provided such class is contained in the current class plan of the agency, or to any class and civil service status in the same or lower grade, provided that he meets the minimum qualifications given in the classification plan of the agency, provided that in all three instances there is a vacancy with the same appointing authority. (Emphasis added.)
Under these definitions, whether an employee is on a paid or unpaid leave of *600absence is irrelevant. Because an employee only has the “right to return to the class and civil service status” after a leave of absence, that means that when an employee is on a leave of absence he or she is no longer in the class or civil status in which he or she previously held. In other words to “return” the employee has had to have left the classified service when on a “leave of absence.” Therefore, once Pinto took a leave of absence, he was no longer a member of the classified civil service.
Because Pinto is not a member of the classified civil service while on a leave of absence, under the plain language of the Act, the prohibitions contained in Section 905(b) of the Act do not apply because they only apply to employees in the classified civil service. Accordingly, while I also would reverse the Commission, I would do so only on this basis and concur in the majority’s opinion.

. 71 Pa.C.S. § 5302(b)(2).