Could Carencro's former police chief be paid for unused leave after leaving office?

Plain-English summary

Carencro asked whether its former chief of police had earned annual or sick leave, and whether the city owed him money for leave unused when his term ended. The city had no ordinance or personnel-manual provision specifically addressing a police chief's leave. In Opinion 03-0091, the Attorney General concluded that the chief should be paid for leave that was accrued, unused, and documented during his term, at the rate used for other municipal employees.

The AG drew on earlier opinions about mayors' treatment as city employees for accrued-leave purposes. Those opinions looked to the city's policies, customs, and practices where law was silent and required records showing the leave had actually been earned and unused. This opinion's conclusion was conditional on that documentation; it did not determine an amount of leave or pay in the chief's individual record.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

City officials and payroll staff

The opinion treated the chief like a municipal employee for the stated leave-payout question. Its conclusion depended on records documenting accrued and unused leave and used the pay rate applicable to other employees.

Municipal police chiefs

The AG applied earlier opinions about accrued leave for mayors to the police chief's request. He left the factual amount to the city's records and the rate to its employee practice.

Common questions

Q: Could a former police chief receive payment for unused leave? A: The AG said yes for leave that had accrued and was documented as unused during the chief's term.

Q: Did the lack of a police-chief leave ordinance settle the question against payment? A: No. The opinion relied on earlier AG analysis of city policies, customs, and practices where a specific rule was absent.

Q: What rate did the AG say Carencro should use?
A: The opinion said to pay at the rate provided for other municipal employees; it did not calculate an individual dollar amount.

Background and statutory framework

The chief's term ran from January 1999 through December 2002. The opinion quoted earlier AG opinions about municipal employees' accrued leave, including a prior conclusion that a mayor could receive unused-leave pay when records documented the balance. It extended that reasoning to the police chief. The signed letter was issued March 18, 2003; its own heading abbreviates the number as 03-91.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: Earlier Louisiana AG Opinions 00-279, 89-222, and 96-399, among others. No statute or court case citation is needed for the page's conclusion.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0091

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

~t~te ol ~l~oui~i~u~
DEPARTMENT OF IUSTICE
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: /504) 342-7013
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
FAX: (504) 342-2090
70804-9005
A’rrORNEY GENERAL

MAR ] 8 2003
OPINION 03-91
71 - Municipalities
77 - Officers - Local &
Municipal
90(A)-Political Subdivisions-
Officers, Agents & Employees

Mayor Glenn Brasseaux
The Chief of Police should be paid for
City of Carencro
unused leave accrued & documented
P.O. Drawer 10
during his term of office as any municipal
employee.
Carencro, LA 70520

Dear Mayor Brasseaux:

This office is in receipt of your request for an opinion of the Attorney General in regard to accumulating annual leave or sick leave. You indicate Carencro, a Lawrason Act community, has neither by ordinance nor in its Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual, provided a means for its Chief of Police to earn or accumulate leave. You ask whether the Chief of Police, whose term extended from January 1, 1999 to December 31, 2002, earned accumulated leave, and if so, is he entitled to be paid by the City for the unused portion of the leave, and at what rate of compensation. -

We note in Atty. Gen. Op. 00-279 that this office stated, =This office has previously opined that, unless the law authorizes the accumulation of leave, vacation days generally expire if they are not used. * * * In the event the law is silent on accumulation, we must next look to the policies, customs, and/or practices of the City. Attorney General Opinion No. 92- 383."

In Atty. Gen. Op. 00-279 this office further observed that the City’s policy enables regular full-time employees to accrue vacation time, and upon retirement, be paid for unused vacation time up to a maximum of 480 hours. It was then stated that the issue of whether a mayor can be considered an =employee’, thereby entitling him to said payment was previously addressed in Attorney General Opinion Nos. 89-222 and 96-391. It then noted that Atty. Gen. Op. 89-222 had held the Mayor of the City of Minden was an employee of the city and entitled to that amount of annual leave prescribed for his years of service, and Atty. Gen. Op 96-399 recognized the right of the City to implement a policy authorizing the payment of accrued leave to its mayor and councilmen =provided that formal records were maintained to reflect that the leave was accrued and unused."

Page 2

Mayor Glenn Brasseaux
OPINION 03-91
Page 2

Inasmuch as this office concluded the Mayor was an employee of the City and entitled to accrued leave where records have been maintained to reflect the leave accrued and unused, we would conclude herein that the Chief of Police should likewise be paid for unused leave accrued and documented during his term of office as any municipal employee if records have been maintained, and it would be at a rate as provided for other employees.

We hope this sufficiently answers your inquiry, but if we can be of further assistance, do not hesitate to contact us.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BARBARA B. RUTLEDGE
Assistant Attorney General

RI/bbr