STATE OF LOUISIANA

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

General Circular No. 001620

To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: KATRINA – Assigning employees where most needed

Issue Date: September 13, 2005

Pursuant to statutory authority, the Governor declared a state of emergency on August 26, 2005. This state of emergency will run for thirty days and can be renewed. In a state of emergency, state law authorizes the Governor to "transfer the direction, personnel, or functions of state departments and agencies" to meet the needs of the declared emergency. The Governor can delegate this emergency authority to appointing authorities, either before or after the action of the appointing authority.

Assigning Employees to Work Outside of Their Agencies

There is no limit on this emergency redirection of personnel as long as it is in the state's interest. State employees may be assigned to help another state agency, a private entity or an entity of the federal or of a local government. This means that, in this state of emergency, an individual appointing authority may direct employees to perform services outside of their department or agency. In such case, they will remain on the payroll of their "home" department, and be considered to be on duty for the state. State employees thus assigned will be eligible for overtime compensation if they work overtime. A separate General Circular is being issued to cover Special Leave and Overtime questions and issues.

Assignment of Employees Within Their Agencies

With or without a declared state of emergency, an appointing authority may temporarily assign an employee to perform any duty within his or her agency. Civil Service Rules 8.16 (a), (b), (c) and (d) govern an appointing authority’s ability to change an employee’s assignment. Rule 8.16 (b) allows an appointing authority to change an employee’s hours of work. Rule 8.16 (c) allows the appointing authority to change an employee’s geographic location of work. Rule 8.16 (a) allows an appointing authority to reassign an employee from one position to a different position of equivalent pay range. Rule 8.16 (d) allows an appointing authority to detail an employee to another position for up to one year. (If the detailed position is higher than the employee’s regular position, promotional pay is required after 30 days.) Employees temporarily assigned to work at a location other than the official domicile may be eligible for travel reimbursements.

Referral of Displaced Employees

During this time of emergency, state agencies are encouraged to assist one another in any way possible. In particular, agencies with displaced employees who have not been recalled to work are encouraged to assign those employees to work at other agencies when and where possible, as needed. To facilitate the deployment of such employees, the Department of Civil Service will soon establish a referral list of available displaced employees. Until the list is established, we may be able to serve as liaison between agencies (upon request), or agencies may work directly with each other. A separate General Circular will be issued regarding the use of this referral list.

Special Note on Hiring Displaced Employees

Our primary focus at this time is helping displaced employees contact and return to work for their current employing agency. However, we realize that some employees may seek alternate employment with other state agencies.

If you hire an employee who worked for another state agency, please be sure to advise the employee that due to the uncertainty of what agencies are able to process at this time, the previous employer may still have the employee on the payroll files. If the other agency is on a payroll system different from yours, it is possible that the employee will continue to get a paycheck from the other agency as well as from your agency. It is vitally important that employees are informed of this possibility, and advised that they are entitled to only ONE paycheck for their state employment. If an employee receives a paycheck from his/her previous employer while employed by you, the employee should contact the previous employer to report that he/she has transferred to your agency. The employee should NOT cash the paycheck or spend the money if the employee has direct deposit.

Contact Information

For questions regarding this General Circular, please contact Daphne Yaun at 225-219-9437.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is any way we may help you.

Sincerely,

s/Anne S. Soileau

Acting Director