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Advisory opinion regarding whether the District Attorney for Jefferson Parish, Mr. Paul D.Connick, Jr., may employ a person who previously worked in his private office, but was laid off. |
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As District Attorney for the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Mr. Connick would like to hire an attorney who previously worked at his private firm of Connick & Connick, L.L.C. (hereafter Connick & Connick). The employee in question was laid off from Connick & Connick and has since begun collecting unemployment benefits. The District Attorney's Office has considered hiring the former employee, but seeks this advisory opinion to determine what effect the hiring of the former employee will have on Connick & Connick's Unemployment Insurance premium.
After conversations with the office manager at Connick & Connick, Ms. Beatrice Strain, and conversations with employees of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, it was determined that the private firm's 2012 rate will not be affected since it has already been calculated. However, the 2013 premium may be affected by the hiring. The calculation for the 2013 rate will be based upon charges for the third and fourth quarters of 2011 and the first and second quarters of 2012 - among many other factors. Based on these other factors it could not be accurately determined to what extent the Unemployment Insurance rate for 2013 will be affected.
Employees of the Louisiana Workforce Commission did state that with any employer account there would be some benefit to the employer if a claim were to stop prior to the maximum benefit being reached. If the employee did not draw Unemployment benefits the entire twenty-six weeks it would ultimately benefit the private employer in the long-run. In the present case the unemployment benefit amount is $6422.00. The employee has so far drawn $988 of her claim. If she continues to file and draws her balance of $5434.00, it would deplete Unemployment Insurance account's reserve balance from $9352.97 to $2930.97. If she were hired by the District Attorney's Office, the balance would not continue to be depleted for the law firm.
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Section 1112B(3) states that no public servant shall participate in a transaction involving the governmental entity in which, to his actual knowledge, any person of which he is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee has a substantial economic interest.
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Adopt proposed advisory opinion
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brent Durham |
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