| Advisory opinion request from a former Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development employee concerning the application of her post-employment restrictions as it relates to her current employment with Arcadis U.S. Inc. |
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Czarina Patolilic was employed with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development ("DOTD") in the Traffic Engineering Division at DOTD Headquarters. During her employment, Ms. Patolilic assisted with in-house traffic studies and participated in certain state projects as a Task Manager. Her responsibilities as a Task Manager included reviewing project deliverables, assisting in operations and safety analyses, field data collection, and traffic report development for the following state projects:
- LA 14 Safety Study;
- I-49 Lafayette Connector: from I-10 to Lafayette Regional Airport;
- I-10 at LA 42 IMR;
- LA 621 Realignment Mitigation - LA 73: from Norris Trail to C Braud Road and LA 621: from LA 73 to L Landry Road; and,
- LA 30 from St. Anthony Avenue to LA 44 Traffic Report.
Ms. Patolilic also worked as the Task Manager on the following state projects involving Arcadis U.S. Inc. ("Arcadis"):
- I-10 CMAR Segment 1;
- I-10 Widening from LA 415 to Essen Lane Stage 0 Study (DOTD contracted directly with Arcadis to assist DOTD in the review of deliverables from the prime contractor, Urban Systems, Inc.);
- I-10 from LA 73 to LA 429 Traffic Study;
- LA 3105 Corridor Study; and,
- LA 157 Corridor Study.
Ms. Patolilic resigned from her position of employment with DOTD, effective December 7, 2023. She is now employed with Arcadis. Her current position is to assist Arcadis in Intersection Control Evaluation Analyses and Traffic Engineering Studies for projects in Georgia. She also works on Louisiana projects in which she provides report writing assistance for the Port of New Orleans Louisiana Interchange Terminal, traffic analysis assistance with the LA 415 to LA 1 Connector Study, and traffic analysis assistance with the 1-10 Calcasieu River Bridge. Ms. Patolilic states that the Louisiana projects she is working on at Arcadis are not related to the state projects she participated in during her employment with DOTD.
Ms. Patolilic asks for guidance concerning the application of the Code's post-employment restrictions in terms of her current employment with Arcadis and her former employment with DOTD.
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La. R.S. 42:1121B(1): No former public employee shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such former public employee participated at any time during his public employment and involving the governmental entity by which he was formerly employed, or for a period of two years following termination of his public employment, render, any service which such former public employee had rendered to the agency during the term of his public employment on a contractual basis, regardless of the parties to the contract, to, for, or on behalf of the agency with which he was formerly employed.
La. R.S. 42:1121C: No legal entity in which a former public servant is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public service, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such public servant at any time participated during his public service and involving the agency by which he was formerly employed or in which he formerly held office.
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Adopt the proposed Advisory Opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Jessica Meiners |
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