New Orleans mayor spared house arrest threat in union fight
Source: Reuters
US | Tue Sep 15, 2015 12:30pm EDT
New Orleans mayor spared house arrest threat in union fight
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu no longer feared weekend house arrest on Tuesday after the Louisiana Supreme Court said he could remain free while appealing a contempt of court order in a decades-old firefighter pay squabble.
The Louisiana Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a district court, which had threatened Landrieu with house arrest if the dispute was not resolved, had "abused its discretion," according to the news outlet NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune.
Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese earlier this month held Landrieu in contempt in a fight over back wages for firefighters. It went unaddressed by the city through several mayoral administrations.
Under a 1980s judgment, the city owes firefighters $75 million in back wages, plus $67 million in interest, due to the city not giving firefighters raises required by state law.
The city has failed in efforts to negotiate a resolution. As Landrieu faced a deadline for his house arrest late last Friday, the state Supreme Court stayed the order from taking effect.
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