2022-091 - Laserfiche WebLink

Ethics Board Docket No. 2022-091 Page 7 of 10 Ethics to his economic advantage, and after an adjudicatory hearing on the matter, the Ethics Adjudicatory Board may order the payment of penalties. Recovery may include, in addition to an amount equal to such economic advantage, penalties not to exceed one half of the amount of the economic advantage. Any appeal of such final decision by the Ethics Adjudicatory Board shall be to the Court of Appeal, First Circuit, pursuant to R.S. 42:1142. V. OPINION: It is the opinion of the BOE that Paula Rush, in her capacity as the Executive Director of HANR, violated Section 1111A of the Ethics Code by virtue of receiving compensation for overtime and unused vacation time to which she was not duly entitled to receive for the performance of her job duties. Section 1111A of the Ethics Code prohibits HANR employees from receiving for the performance of their duties anything of economic value to which they are not duly entitled. Paula Rush, while serving as Executive Director of HANR, received compensation for accrued unused vacation time in excess of HANR policy limits and received compensation for overtime hours worked in derogation of the terms of her employment agreement with HANR. If this matter proceeded to a public hearing before the Ethics Adjudicatory Board, and the Ethics Adjudicatory Board found a violation of the Ethics Code, the Ethics Adjudicatory Board could impose a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation of the Ethics Code, pursuant to Section 1153B of the Ethics Code. The Ethics Adjudicatory Board could also impose penalties equal to one-and-a-half times the amount of economic advantage gained, pursuant to Section 1155A of the Ethics Code. In this particular situation, it is the conclusion of the Board that the interest of the public would be served by, and the parties have agreed to resolving this matter amicably through the publication of this Consent Opinion with the imposition of a $6,000 civil penalty against Ms.