Could a Louisiana justice of the peace join the parochial employees' retirement system?

Plain-English summary

In 1998, the Parochial Employees' Retirement System asked whether Jefferson Parish Justice of the Peace Kevin Centanni could join the system and whether the parish had to contribute if he elected to join. The attorney general's office said the system's Board of Trustees had to decide whether a justice of the peace counted as an "employee" for membership purposes. The cited definition made the board the sole judge when employee status was in doubt, so the office deferred that determination.

The opinion separately said justices of the peace were not eligible for another public retirement system. It did not decide Centanni's membership itself or give a separate answer on parish contributions.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1998. 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.

Retirement board members at the time

The opinion treated the board, rather than the attorney general's office, as the decision-maker on whether a justice of the peace qualified as an employee under the system's statute.

Justices of the peace at the time

The opinion said a justice of the peace did not participate in the State Employees Retirement System. It left the specific parochial-system membership question for the board.

Common questions

Q: Did the attorney general decide that Kevin Centanni could join the parochial retirement system?
A: No. The office deferred the employee-status determination to the system's Board of Trustees under the statute it quoted.

Q: Why did the retirement board have to decide?
A: The opinion quoted R.S. 11:1902(12)(b), which made the board of trustees the sole judge of who was an employee in a doubtful case.

Q: Could a justice of the peace use the State Employees Retirement System instead?
A: The opinion said justices of the peace were not eligible for another public retirement system and did not contribute to or participate in the State Employees Retirement System.

Q: Did the opinion require Jefferson Parish to make contributions for Centanni?
A: It did not separately resolve the contribution question. The office deferred the underlying membership determination to the board.

Background and statutory framework

The request followed Centanni's election as a Jefferson Parish justice of the peace in 1996 and his stated wish to join the parochial system. The opinion quoted R.S. 13:2589(A) on parish-paid salaries for justices of the peace in criminal matters and R.S. 11:1902(12)(b) on who counts as an employee for retirement membership. It relied on the latter provision's instruction that the board of trustees is the sole judge in a doubtful case.

The office also discussed Louisiana Constitution Article 5, Section 23 and a Louisiana Supreme Court decision concerning justice-of-the-peace retirement. The court decision's name is damaged in the available OCR, so this page does not supply a reconstructed case citation.

Citations and references

• R.S. 13:2589(A) (compensation of justices of the peace in criminal matters)
• R.S. 11:1902(12)(b) (retirement-system employee definition and board decision)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0130

Original opinion text

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

One American Place
$01 Main St~-t, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. Box 94005
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL.: (504) :342-7013
FAX: (504) .342-2090
BATON ROUGE
70804-9005
J U N E 251998

OPINION NUMBER 98-’130

Mr. Thomas B. Sims
Administrative Director
Parochial Employees’ Retirement
System of Louisiana eligible for mmber~ b~ any ~ public retirement system in this
P.O. Box 14619
etme. Wbetber or not they are "employees" for the purposes of
Baton Rouge, LA 70898-4619
W,,,RS k ¯ determi~=~ion which may be made by the Board of
Trustees i~ accordsnee with R.S. 11:L~,(12)(B).

Dear Mr. Sims:

This office is in receipt of your opinion request in which you ask if Jefferson Parish Justice of the Peace, Kevin Centanni, is eligible for membership in the Parochial Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) and whether Jefferson Parish is required to make contributions to PERS on his behalf, if he elects to join PERS. You stated that Mr. Centanni, after his election in 1996, advised your office and Jefferson Parish that he would like to exercise his option to join PERS.

Regarding compensation of Justices of the Peace and Constables in criminal matters, R.S. 13:2589(A) states:

§2589. Compensation of justices of the peace and constables in criminal matters

(A) Justices of the peace and constables shall receive no fees in criminal matters or in peace bond cases, but in lieu thereof they shall receive such salaries as are fixed by the parish governing authority and paid by the parish, which salaries shall be graded.

Per your letter of request, justices of the peace throughout the State have been eligible for membership in PERS pursuant to R.S. 11:1902(12)(a)(b) and (13) and 11:1921(A)(3)(a), which state as follows:

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’OPINION NUMBER 98-130
Mr. Thomas B. Sims
Page -2-

§1902. Definitions

(12)(a) "Employee" means any person who is employed as a permanent employee of a parish who works at least twenty-eight hours a week and whose compensation is paid wholly or partly by said parish, but excluding all persons employed by a parish or city school board, and all persons eligible for any other public retirement system in this state.

(b) "Employee" shall also mean a person employed by either the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, the Louisiana School Boards Association, or this retirement system and elected officials of the governing authority of any parish covered by this Chapter, and shall include members of school boards at their options. In any case of doubt, the board of trustees shall be the sole judge of who is an employee. (Emphasis added.)

At issue is whether a justice of the peace is an "employee" of the parish for purposes of PERS membership. As cited above, in R.S. 11:1902(12)(b), the Board of Trustees is the sole judge of who is considered an "employee". Thus, as the statute specifically gives the Board of Trustees the authority to determine who is an employee, it is our opinion that such determination must be made by the Board. Our office thus must defer this issue to the Board of Trustees for a definitive determination.

Justices of the peace are not eligible for membership in any other public retirement system in this state. Louisiana Constitution Art. 5, §23(A) provides:

§23. Judges; Retirement

Section 23(A). Retirement System. Within two (2) years after the effective date of this constitution, the legislature shall provide for a retirement system for judges...

The legislature has provided no such retirement for justices of the peace. In a recent Supreme Court decision entitled Supreme Court of Louisiana, 97-0-1921 in re Hayward Cedota/, Justice of the Peace, the Supreme Court stated as follows:

¯ . . the length and particularity of the list signifies that the legislature’s obvious exclusion of justices of the peace was intended. Because the legislature gave such detailed attention to judges and court officers

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OPINION NUMBER 98-130
Mr. Thomas B. Sims
Page -3-

subject to the State Employees Retirement System, it is clear that had the Legislature intended R.S. 11:553 to apply to justices of the peace, it would have included them in the specific and particularized list as well. Further, justices of the peace neither contribute to, nor otherwise participate in, the State Employees Retirement System.

The court went on to find that justices of the peace are not subject to the retirement systems conditions of La. Constitutional Art. 5, §23, including the mandatory retirement provision therein.

We hope the foregoing sufficiently addresses your concerns. If our office may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENEI:~,L

By:
RICHARD
Assistant Attorney General

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