Back Pay Hearing is Delayed

Lafayette, LAPolice officers, city marshals, and firefighters for Lafayette filed a lawsuit against the city for back pay owed in the form of unpaid wages. However, the hearing for the ongoing lawsuit has been postponed since there are questions regarding the amount in which the employees are owed. This has come after months of multiple settlement offers resulting from the eight-year-old lawsuit's contention with an old pay plan. It was ruled in 2003 by Judicial District Judge Edward Rubin that the old pay plan violated state law.

The rescheduled hearing will now occur on April 21, according to the lead attorney on the case, Daniel Landry. Landry is representing close to 600 plaintiffs in the case. Landry stated that a joint motion was filed by him and the attorneys for Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) to postpone the hearing after having a Wednesday meeting with the accountant who has been put in charge of figuring the amount in which the employees are owed.

According to Landry, there have been several questions of whether or not a report presented to them included the overtime wages. The city had made an offer to pay the wages, but what the attorneys are trying to figure out is if the amount included overtime. It is appearing that the amount does not include overtime pay, so more time is needed to make the calculations.

The postponement of the case has come at a time when negotiations have been renewed between the employees' attorney and LCG over a February 22 settlement in the amount of $6.7 million. So far, both attorneys agree that the negotiations have not been positive. The offer by the city would pay 100% of the wages that are owed to the employees, but would not include any of the charges associated with the suit or any kind of interest.

Landry has stated that a response is unlikely from the employees until after issues regarding retirement payments have been discussed in more detail. Landry said that in order for the 36 retired employees in the suit to receive the proper retirement amounts, an actuary would be needed. Landry said that he and the employees felt that they should not respond to the offer by the city until after the numbers are better understood. If the entire amount of $12.4 million were paid, the employees would receive anywhere from just a few hundred dollars to $34,000. The figure is dependent upon how long they were employed with the city. However, this is the figure based off of the current report that is believed to not include overtime wages.

By Ginger Gillenwater