Could a full-time Louisiana deputy constable also work part time for a school board or sewerage board?

Plain-English summary

A New Orleans constable asked whether his deputy could also work for a school board or sewerage board. The attorney general's office assumed the deputy constable appointment was full time. Under the dual officeholding and employment law it discussed, a full-time appointed public position could be combined with a second public job only if the second job was part time. Two full-time public positions were prohibited.

The opinion confined its answer to that dual employment law. It did not decide other employment or ethics requirements for either board.

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.

Constables and deputies at the time

The opinion assumed the deputy's constable appointment was full time. On that premise, it said employment with either board could be held if the second job was part time.

School and sewerage boards at the time

The office treated a second full-time public job differently from a part-time one. Its answer addressed only the dual employment law, not every rule that might govern board employment.

Common questions

Q: Could a full-time deputy constable also take a part-time school board job?
A: The opinion said yes under the dual employment provisions it examined. It gave the same answer for part-time sewerage board employment.

Q: What if both public jobs were full time?
A: The opinion quoted LSA-R.S. 42:63(E), which prohibited holding a full-time appointed office or full-time public employment together with another full-time appointed office or public job.

Q: What counted as full time in this opinion?
A: The quoted 1998 definition required at least seven hours per workday and at least 35 hours per workweek. The opinion defined part time as less than that full-time amount.

Q: Did the office decide whether other rules allowed the second job?
A: No. It expressly limited the opinion to the dual employment laws it cited.

Background and statutory framework

The request concerned a deputy constable's proposed work with a school board or sewerage board. The office assumed the constable appointment was full time and applied Louisiana's Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws. It quoted LSA-R.S. 42:63(E)'s bar on holding two full-time public positions and LSA-R.S. 42:62's definitions of employment, full time, and part time. The second position's hours controlled the result under the rule the opinion examined.

Citations and references

• LSA-R.S. 42:63(E) (bar on two full-time public positions, as quoted in 1998)
• LSA-R.S. 42:62 (employment and hours definitions, as quoted in 1998)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0145

Original opinion text

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

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
P.O. Box 94005
ATTORNEY GENERAL 70804-9005 TEL: (504) 342-70"13
FAX: (504) 342-7335

June 18, 1998
OPINION 98-145

Mr. Lambert C. Boissiere, III
78 DUAL OFFICEHOLDING
Constable
LSA-R.S. 42;61 et seq., LSA-R.S. 42;63(E)
Room 208 Civil District Court Building Deputy constable may hold employment with school board or sewerage board where employment is held on a part-time basis.
421 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112

Dear Constable Boissiere:

Resolution of your questions requires our examination of Louisiana’s Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws, LSA.R.S. 42:61, et seq.

We assume your deputy constable holds his appointment on a full-time basis. To answer your specific question, note that the state Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Laws, LSA-R.S. 42:61, et seq., do not prohibit one from holding a full-time appointed position while holding another position of employment, as long as the second position is held on a part-time basis. The prohibition of the law is involved where both positions are held on a full-time basis, as LSA-R.S. 42:63(E) states:

E. No person holding a full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of this state or of a political subdivision thereof shall at the same time hold another full-time appointive office or full-time employment in the government of the State of Louisiana, in the government of a political subdivision thereof, or in a combination of these.

Your deputy sheriff may hold employment with the sewerage board or the school board as long as it is on a part-time basis. The definitional section of LSA-R.S. 42:62 is pertinent and provides:

(3) "Employment" means any job compensated on a salary or per diem basis, other than an elective or appointive office, in which a person is an employee of the state government or of a political subdivision thereof.

(4) "Full-time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five hours per week of work.

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Constable Boissiere
OPINION 98-145
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(5) "Part-time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment which is less than the number of hours of work defined in this Section as full-time.

This opinion is limited to application of the dual employment laws cited above.

Should you have other questions, please contact this office.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

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