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Advisory opinion request regarding whether J.P. Morgan Chase can contract with the Morehouse Parish School Board when School Board member Tamika Farrell is employed by Chase Mortgage. |
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Tamika Farrell is a Morehouse Parish School Board member from District 6. Ms. Farrell is employed by Chase Mortgage Banking at its Monroe, Louisiana, call center. She is an hourly employee whose job title is Customer Advocate Professional (CAP).
Ms. Farrell's job duties, as the Customer Advocate Professional, are to direct all activities necessary to resolve escalated customer issues with limited supervision and to answer inquiries that cover the full range of bank products and services. The CAP also proactively coordinates process improvement activities, provides coaching refresher training, and management tracking reporting on customer inquiries handled by Customer Care Professionals. The CAP is empowered to request executive level action be taken in conjunction with all support departments cross functional partners and vendors. The CAP must investigate, resolve, and respond to all escalated customer inquiries. The CAP must accurately assist the Customer Care Professionals with resolving the inbound phone calls. Emphasis is placed on "one and done,"ensuring that customers who escalate to the Customer Advocate Center need not interface by phone with any other party to resolve their issue. The CAP is able to offer solutions that are outside the normal operating policies and procedures of the mortgage division due to the impact to the corporation (i.e. repeat business, referral business, potential fines from state and federal regulatory agencies, and potential law suits). The CAP works under minimal direction and must find creative solutions to resolve issues within stringent time.
Ms. Farrell's employer has requested that counsel for the Morehouse Parish School Board send to it a letter in the form of the one attached as Exhibit 1. At the current time the Morehouse Parish School Board does no business with JPMorgan Chase Co. and there is no banking facility operated by it in Morehouse Parish.
Nevertheless, counsel for the school board is aware of the provisions of La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) and 1112B. As a result Ms. Farrell would ask for an exception afforded in BD 82-02D. She is paid an hourly wage. Her wage will be unaffected by any business of Morehouse Parish School Board with JPMorgan Chase or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. She is not a director, officer, or trustee of J.P.Morgan Chase Co. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates nor does she hold any like position. Her only position is that of Customer Advocate Professional.
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La. R.S. 42:1112B(3) prohibits a public servant from participating in matters involving his governmental entity and his employer.
According to Section 1120 of the Code, if any elected official, in the discharge of a duty or responsibility of his office or position, would be required to vote on a matter which vote would be a violation of R.S. 42:1112, he shall recuse himself from voting. An elected official who recuses himself from voting pursuant to this Section shall not be prohibited from participating in discussion and debate concerning this matter, provided he makes the disclosure of his conflict or potential conflict a part of the record of his agency prior to his participation in the discussion or debate and prior to the vote that is subject of the discussion or debate.
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) of the Code prohibits a public servant from rendering services for compensation to a person who has or is seeking contractual, or other financial relationship with his agency.
BD 82-02D allows for an elected official to continue his employment that would typically be prohibited by Section 1111C(2)(d) if she meets the following criteria: 1) the employee must be a salaried or wage earning employee; 2) the employee's salary must remain substantially unaffected by the contractual relationship; 3) the public servant must own less than a "controlling interest" (i.e. less than twenty five percent) in the company; and 4) the public servant must be neither an officer, director, trustee, nor partner of the company.
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Adopt proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Brent Durham |
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