Can the Georgia Board of Technical and Adult Education on its own extend to all department employees the same benefit options that transferred local-board employees kept under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29?

Plain-English summary

When Georgia created the Department of Technical and Adult Education in 1988 and rolled the technical institutions out of local board governance into state ownership, the legislature gave transferred local employees a choice. Under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29(1), they could keep their old local-board salary and benefits as long as the costs were comparable or less. Under § 20-4-29(2), they could elect the standard state employee package. Some transferred employees kept benefits like cancer insurance or specified-disease coverage that the standard state plan did not offer. The Commissioner asked whether the Board of Technical and Adult Education could now extend those richer benefits to all Department employees, harmonizing the system. The AG said no. While the Board has broad powers including setting "salaries, salary supplements, tuition and fees" under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-11, the Employee Benefit Plan Council has exclusive statutory authority over the state employees' flexible benefit plan and over the approval of any new optional plans (O.C.G.A. §§ 45-18-52 and 45-18-54). Without Council approval, the Board could not extend the legacy benefits to all employees.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2001. 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.

Historical context

Pre-1988, Georgia's technical institutions were operated by local boards of education or area postsecondary technical education boards. In 1988, the General Assembly transferred the institutions to a new state Board and Department of Technical and Adult Education (O.C.G.A. §§ 20-4-10, -14). To handle the transition fairly to existing employees, § 20-4-29 created the two-option system. Subsection (1) preserved the local-board salary and benefits package as long as the cost was comparable. Subsection (2) offered a switch to the state employee package.

By 2001, this had produced a benefit-uniformity problem within the Department. Some employees who chose the legacy option had benefits that the standard state plan did not offer. The Commissioner saw this as an equity issue and wanted to extend the richer benefits to everyone.

The AG worked through the statutory authority and found a clean answer. The Board of Technical and Adult Education has broad powers under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-11, including the express power to set "salaries, salary supplements, tuition and fees." But the Employee Benefit Plan Council has separate, specific authority over state employee benefits. O.C.G.A. § 45-18-52(a) gives the Council authority to "establish the state employees' flexible benefit plan." O.C.G.A. § 45-18-54(a) requires Council approval for any "[n]ew optional employee benefit plans or any contracting with new or additional insurers under existing plans that authorize the deduction or reduction of voluntarily designated amounts, including insurance, from the salaries of the full-time employees" after January 1, 1986.

The two grants of authority did not collide. Salaries are within the Board's domain. Benefit plans (and especially benefit plans involving payroll-deduction premium payments and insurance coverage) are within the Council's domain. To bring legacy benefits like cancer or specified-disease insurance into the standard state plan and offer them to all Department employees would constitute either a new optional plan or a new insurer contract under existing plans, which § 45-18-54(a) requires the Council to approve.

The Board could not unilaterally route around the Council. The path forward, if equity required harmonization, was to ask the Council to approve the addition.

For the Department of Technical and Adult Education at the time

The Department could not unilaterally restructure its benefit offerings. To extend legacy benefits, the Department had to apply to the Employee Benefit Plan Council for approval to add the relevant plan or insurer to the statewide menu.

For the Employee Benefit Plan Council at the time

The opinion confirmed the Council's primacy over benefits. Other state agencies could not work around the Council by tying benefit decisions to Board-level salary or compensation authority.

For employees of the Department at the time

Employees who had elected the standard state package in 1988 could not get the legacy local-board benefits added to their package by Department action alone. Council approval would be required for any plan-wide change.

Common questions

Q: What is the Employee Benefit Plan Council?
A: The Council established under O.C.G.A. Title 45, Chapter 18 to oversee state employee benefit plans. It has authority over the flexible benefit plan and over approval of new optional benefit plans and insurance contracts.

Q: What kinds of benefits did the legacy local-board employees keep?
A: The opinion's example was cancer insurance and other specified-disease insurance. The local boards had offered those, and transferred employees who elected to keep their pre-1988 benefits package retained that coverage.

Q: Could the Board offer a salary supplement to make up the difference?
A: That question was not directly addressed. The Board's authority to set "salaries, salary supplements" might allow some compensation flexibility, but a salary supplement is not the same as an insurance plan, and the Council's authority over benefit plans would still constrain plan-level changes.

Q: Did the AG see a constitutional issue here?
A: No. The opinion's footnote explicitly noted that an earlier 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. 82-79 had analyzed a different employee option and addressed constitutional issues, but the current question turned only on the statutory framework and did not raise constitutional concerns.

Background and statutory framework

The 1988 reorganization of Georgia's technical-education system was a significant administrative restructuring. Local boards lost direct operating authority; the new state Board and Department took over. The transition provisions in § 20-4-29 were designed to honor the expectations of employees who had been hired under one set of terms and were now state employees under a different set.

The flexible benefit plan administered by the Employee Benefit Plan Council is a "cafeteria plan" structure under federal tax rules. Employees pick from a menu of options. Adding a new option (or letting a new insurer offer existing options) requires Council approval under O.C.G.A. § 45-18-54(a). This centralized approval process exists for sound reasons: actuarial soundness, plan-wide cost discipline, and avoiding fragmentation of state employee benefits across agencies.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- O.C.G.A. §§ 20-4-10, 20-4-11, 20-4-14 (Board and Department of Technical and Adult Education)
- O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29 (transferred employees' benefit options)
- O.C.G.A. §§ 45-18-52(a), 45-18-54(a) (Employee Benefit Plan Council authority)

Prior AG opinions:
- 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. 82-79 (different employee option, constitutional analysis)

Source

• Landing page: https://law.georgia.gov/opinions/2001-6

Original opinion text

This is in response to your request for an opinion regarding whether the Board of Technical and Adult Education can make benefits uniform throughout the Department of Technical and Adult Education by offering all employees of the Department a selection of benefits which only some of the department employees now have. It is my opinion that the Board of Technical and Adult Education cannot, without approval of the Employee Benefit Plan Council, extend to all departmental employees the benefit options allowed for former employees of local boards of education or the area postsecondary technical education boards under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29. This situation developed as a result of the formation of the Board and Department of Technical and Adult Education as a new state board and department in 1988. O.C.G.A. §§ 20-4-10 and -14. At that time, the technical institutions were generally governed under local boards of education and thus had to convert to state ownership. Because of this conversion, there were statutory provisions enacted permitting the local board employees to choose options regarding their salary and benefits. O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29. One option was to retain the salary and benefits offered under the local boards of education as long as the benefits could be attained for comparable or less cost by the Department of Technical and Adult Education. O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29(1). The other option was to elect the salary and benefit plan available to state employees. O.C.G.A.§ 20-4-29(2). As an example of the difference in benefits, some employees who elected to retain the salary and benefits of their former local boards now have cancer insurance or other specified disease insurance which is not offered to state employees through the state benefit package. Your request for an opinion is whether the Board of Technical and Adult Education can make the offer of these benefits uniform throughout the Department. The answer is no for the reasons outlined below. The Board of Technical and Adult Education has broad powers enumerated in O.C.G.A. § 20-4-11, including the power to establish "salaries, salary supplements, tuition and fees . . . ." However, the Employee Benefit Plan Council is given the specific authority to establish the state employees' flexible benefit plan. O.C.G.A. § 45-18-52(a). In addition, any "[n]ew optional employee benefit plans or any contracting with new or additional insurers under existing plans that authorize the deduction or reduction of voluntarily designated amounts, including insurance, from the salaries of the full-time employees must be approved by the council after January 1, 1986 . . . ." O.C.G.A. § 45-18-54(a). Therefore, it is the clear statutory duty and obligation of the Employee Benefit Plan Council to determine and approve which employee benefits are made available to state employees.1 In summary, the Board of Technical and Adult Education cannot, without approval of the Employee Benefit Plan Council, extend to all departmental employees the benefit options allowed for former employees of local boards of education or the area postsecondary technical education boards under O.C.G.A. § 20-4-29. Prepared by: CAROL A. CALLAWAY Senior Assistant Attorney General 1 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. 82-79 analyzes a different employee option and addresses constitutional issues. A constitutional analysis is unnecessary in this opinion, however, because the statutory provisions do not raise constitutional issues.