Legal Question in Employment Law in Louisiana
My husband is a police officer at a state university; he's worked there for about 15mths. He was supposed to complete POST certification (paid for by the university police department), during his first year of work as a police officer. He began POST last Oct., but was injured during training and could not finish. The academy reported to his chief that he had done very well, and was welcome to return and finish, once healed.
My husband also informed his chief of the injury, and was told it would be covered, by worker's comp. He saw a doctor, was told he could return to work in a few days, and his chief ordered him to take a week's leave. The medical bills were few, and largely covered by insurance, so we didn't pay it any mind, and did not follow up on any reimbursement through worker's comp.
Over the next several months, my husband regularly asked his chief when he could return to finish his POST certification, and was given numerous answers - all of which turned out to be lies. Occasionally, the chief made ominous, nasty remarks about him "failing," at which point my husband would remind him that he had been at the top of his academy class, and had left due to injury, not failure.
As his one-year anniversary date passed, still without him being certified, he was again given more excuses and promises, by his chief.
Today, with no warning, he was called into the chief's office and told he would now be performing the duties of a security guard, because he had "failed" to complete his POST training - the same training he'd begged for, for several months. He received no warning of any kind, but is now no longer allowed to serve in the position for which he was hired (Police Officer 1).
To top that off, we also found out, today, that his employer never reported his October injury for worker's compensation, and does not appear to have made any written record of it (although we can certainly easily prove both the injury, and the fact that it happened during training).
Is ANY of the above-described situation legal, in the case of a classified civil servant? It sounds very much like he's being punished with a demotion/change to his duties, as a result of an on-the-job injury.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The demotion is appealable to Civil Service. You and your attorney will have to review the civil service rules applicable to your position to know how to proceed further, though.
I would recommend finding an attorney in your area that handles civil service cases and filing an appeal from the adverse action of the appointing authority in your case.
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