| Advisory opinion request by Aaron "Bo" Melvin regarding whether his wife, Charlene Melvin, may be employed by certain hospitals within Lafourche Parish while he serves as a Lafourche Parish Council Member. |
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Bo Melvin was recently elected to the Lafourche Parish Council on November 21, 2015. Charlene Melvin is a respiratory therapist who is currently employed by Acadian Management Group and Physician's Medical Center on an as-needed basis. She recently completed orientation at St. Ann's to potentially work on an as-needed basis. Lafourche Parish has three hospital service districts including Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, St. Ann's, and Lady of the Sea. Of these, Thibodaux Regional Medical Center does not receive a millage from the voters. St. Ann's is owned by Ochsner, a non-profit hospital. The Parish Council appoints members to these hospital service districts.
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La. R.S. 42:1119B provides that no member of the immediate family of a member of a governing authority or the chief executive of a governmental entity shall be employed by the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1119B(2)(b)(i) provides an exception to the general provision that any hospital service district or hospital public trust authority located in such a district may enter into an initial recruiting contract with or employ as a health care provider, a licensed physician, a registered nurse, or an allied health professional who is a member of the immediate family of any district board, authority, or parish governing authority member or of the chief executive of the district or authority provided that such family member is the only qualified applicant who has applied for the position after it has been advertised for at least thirty days in the official journal of the parish and in all newspapers of general circulation in the parish where the hospital is located. The chief executive and any member of a board of a hospital service district or hospital public trust authority which enters into an initial recruiting contract with or employs such physician, registered nurse, or allied health professional shall recuse himself from any decision involving the promotion, discipline, discharge, or assignment of any such employee who is a member of his immediate family.
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Adopt proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brett Robinson |
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