2010AP857 Roberson v. Milwaukee County

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals
CIVIL PUBLISHED
Municipalities
County employees

A sheriff cannot circumvent a pay freeze by slotting in newly promoted employees at a higher pay step than other employees already promoted to that position.

“Wisconsin Stat. ß 63.14(3) states, in pertinent part: No county specified in s. 63.01 or any department, officer or employee thereof shall hire or employ a person, subject to civil service in such county, at a wage or salary less than that advertised by the civil service commission of such county for the position to be filled, nor shall such county, department, officer or employee pay, or cause to be paid, salaries or wages of different amounts to persons in the same classification and stage of advancement, unless such difference in salaries or wages shall be based on difference of work performed or the time of day or night of performance of work …. (Emphasis added.) Section 63.14(3), by cross-reference to Wis. Stat. ß 63.01, is applicable to all counties that have a civil service commission. Section 63.01(1) states, as pertinent here: ‘There shall be a civil service commission in every county containing 500,000 inhabitants or more according to the last state or United States census and in all other counties the county board of supervisors may establish a civil service commission.’ (Emphasis added.)

“Thus, Milwaukee County must, and all other counties may, establish a civil service commission.

“The dispute boils down to the following. The plaintiffs argue that Wis. Stat. ß 63.14(3), by reference to Wis. Stat. ß 63.01(1), ‘uniformly affects every county’ because every county either must or may have a civil service commission. The County, on the other hand, argues that ‘uniformly affects every county’ means that a provision must mandatorily apply to every county. Thus, according to the County, because Milwaukee County is the only county that must have a civil service commission, the civil service statute does not ‘uniformly affect every county.'”

Reversed and Remanded.
Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2010AP857 Roberson v. Milwaukee County
Dist. I, Milwaukee County, White, J, Lundsten, J.
Attorneys: For Appellant: Cermele, Jonathan, Milwaukee; For Respondent: Scott, James R., Milwaukee

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