Could a full-time Louisiana transportation employee also work part-time for LSU?

Plain-English summary

A Department of Transportation and Development employee worked full-time on a temporary job appointment and had been offered a five-to-ten-hour-per-week position at an LSU engineering research center. In Opinion 03-0066, the Louisiana Attorney General said she could hold both positions under the dual-officeholding laws. Both were within the state executive branch, and the second job was part-time.

The AG distinguished two restrictions: the ban on combining positions in different branches did not apply because both jobs were in the same branch, and the rule against two full-time state positions did not apply because the LSU role was part-time. The letter did not decide a different pairing of jobs or other employment rules.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. 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.

What the opinion meant at issuance

State employees

The opinion found no dual-officeholding violation for the employee's full-time DOTD appointment plus the described part-time LSU appointment. It relied on the number of hours and on both employers being in the executive branch.

Public employers

The AG treated employment through DOTD and LSU's Board of Supervisors as executive-branch work. His statutory discussion distinguished concurrent work in different branches from a pair of full-time positions.

Common questions

Q: Did the LSU position count as employment in a different branch? A: No. The AG treated LSU and DOTD as part of the state executive branch for this question.

Q: Would the two jobs violate the ban on two full-time state positions? A: No on the supplied facts, because the proposed LSU work was part-time, five to ten hours a week.

Background and statutory framework

The letter quoted R.S. 42:62 on the executive branch and R.S. 42:63 on prohibited combinations of state positions. The source's first-page date is OCR-damaged, so the exact issue date is blank. A header citation appears as R.S. 43:63, while the analysis repeatedly cites R.S. 42:63; this page uses the citation from the analysis.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 42:62; R.S. 42:63; Atty. Gen. Ops. 99-13, 95-404, 91-94, and 80-206.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0066

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

~t~t~ a~ ~isia~a
One American PJace
301 Mare Street, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O Box 94005
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL. (225) 342-7013

BATON ROUGE
FAX" (225) 342-2090

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL
MAR 1 zt 2003
OPINION 03-66

78 - Officers - Dual Officeholdmg
R.S. 42:62
Ms. Susan S. Pellegrin
R.S. 43:63
There is no violation of dual
Human Resources Asst. Director
officeholding then both
Department of Transportation
positions are held in the executive
branch of government and one and Development is full-time but the other is
P.O. Box 94245
part-tlrne. ’
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9245

Dear Ms. Pellegrin:

This office is in receipt of your request for an opinion of the Attorney General in regard to a dual officeholding question. You relate that Ms. Lacey Yesso, is currently employed full- time by DOTD (Department of Transportation and Development) on a Job Appointment, under C.S. Rule 1.18. Civil Service Rule 1.18 provides that "job appointment, means a temporary appointment of an employee for: a) work of a temporary nature, b) to substitute for another employee, or c) for projects not expected to last longer than three years." She has been offered an unclassified appointment as a Transient Employee at the LSU College of Engineering, Hazardous Substance Research Center. In the latter position she would work for five to ten hours per week and serve as lead person/mentor to undergraduates on a special engineering project which is expected to terminate mid-April, 20003.

R.S. 42:62 sets forth definitions relevant to the Dual Officeholding provisions and in Paragraph (6) provides as follows:

The executive branch of state government includes the following named officers and all other officers, agents, employees, or other persons holding or exercising any employment with them, namely, * * * the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College, * * *. The executive branch shall also, include the officers, members, agents and employees of any department * * * or other entity created by the constitution or by law whose functions are not primarily legislative, judicial, or local in nature or operation.

R.S. 42:63 sets forth in Paragraph B, "Except as otherwise provided by the Louisiana Constitution, no person holding office or employment in on branch of state government shall at the same time hold another office or employment in any other branch of state government." Paragraph E then provides, "No person holding a full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of this state * * * shall at the same time hold another full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of the state of

Page 2

Ms. Susan S. Pellegrin
OPINION 03-66
Page 2

Louisiana, in the government of a political subdivision thereof, or in a combination of these."

This office recognized in Atty. Gen. Ops. 99-13 and 95-404 that employment under the DOTD constitutes employment in the executive branch of state government, an in Atty. Gen. Op. 91-94 it was observed that the executive branch includes employees with the Board of Supervisors of LSU. This places each position in question with the executive branch of government, and they would not fall within the prohibition of R.S. 42:63(B) relative to a person in one branch of state government being prohibited from employment in another branch of state government.

In Atty. Gen. Op 80-206, while finding both the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the State Department of Education are in the Executive Branch, it was concluded that the Board of Education could employ on a "part-time" basis a person who holds at the same time a full time classified civil service position with the Department of Education. Whether the person holds a classified or unclassified position in the education department was not found controlling, but R.S. 42:63(E) was found relevant wherein it "prohibits that person from holding another full-time, not part-time, position in state government."

Herein we find no violation of the dual officeholding statute since it is indicated that both positions are in the executive branch, and while employment with DOTD is full-time, the position with LSU would be part-time.

We hope this sufficiently answers your inquiry.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: , ~"~.~L ~.,_..."; .
BARBARA B. RUTLEDGE "
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

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