VERMILION PARISH (ABBEVILLE) — Monday morning, a Vermilion Parish judge issued her final ruling in an extensive lawsuit between the city of Abbeville and 11 of its police officers.
The trial began in November of last year, stemming from a 2023 lawsuit by officers who claim the city failed to calculate their pay in accordance with state law, which states that senior officers are entitled to higher pay based on rank.
In 2022, the lawsuit alleged that the city changed its payscale to set a starting police officer salary at $40,000 annually. New officers started getting that salary in 2023, but the plaintiffs, who are all senior officers in the department, haven't seen the changes in their pay that they say they're entitled to.
The state law requires that each rank make a certain percentage more than lower ranking officers.
The law also requires that all officers with at least three years of continuous service receive an annual increase of at least 2 percent.
Monday morning inside the Vermilion Parish Courthouse, the judge decided that eight of the 11 plaintiffs were entitled salary adjustments, but three of them were not; she found that they were already making what they should be, under the law.
Attorney Daniel Landry helped represent the officers and shared his reaction to the ruling:
"The issue, and probably the central dispute, was about the proper interpretation of the statute’s subsections—including whether longevity pay must be included in determining the minimum salaries, and whether a particular clause would reduce the recovery of the police officers. That was the area where we disagreed with the court's ruling."
Abbeville Mayor Roslyn White shared this statement regarding the decision:
"The City of Abbeville strives to provide fair compensation for all employees while remaining a good steward of taxpayer dollars. We remain firm in the position that the raises provided to all officers, totaling over $19,000.00 since 2020, were both lawful and approved through the appropriate process. We believe that today’s ruling supports that position. We will have no further comment until the Court’s decision is final."
Both attorneys requested a written transcript of the hearing. Landry says they'll be pursuing an appeal.
