Employment – Written notice of a penalization to file appeal with Personnel Board: Commonwealth, Dept. of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet v. McDonald (COA 4/10/2009)

Commonwealth, Dept. of Revenue, Finance and Administration Cabinet v. McDonald
2007-CA-001626
04/10/2009
2009 WL 960765
Opinion by Judge Moore; Judges Clayton and Taylor concurred.

The Court reversed an opinion and order of the circuit court concluding that appellees’ requests for retroactive pay related to their job reclassifications were timely appealed.

The Court held that the Personnel Board and the circuit court improperly interpreted KRS 18A.095(29). The General Assembly enacted a one-year time limit for merit employees who did not receive written notification of a penalization to file an appeal with the Personnel Board and there were no exceptions to the time limits for continuing violations or ongoing penalizations.

The Court further held that that the statute did not require an acknowledgement of the penalization by the appointing authority. Because the appellees failed to appeal the action to the Personnel Board within the time limitation, calculated from the date they were notified that their job assignments were changed but they were not reclassified at a higher pay grade, the appeals to the Board were time barred.