No one will say why.
"This is a personnel matter handled by the administration," Gary Haynes said in a text message reply to The IND's questions. "Therefore I'm not at liberty to comment."
Boudreaux, who joined the office in October 1992, according to Lafayette City-Parish Attorney Michael Hebert, earns $20.50 per hour. That's $3,200 per month, meaning she's been paid roughly $32,000 to sit home.
The IND filed a public records request with Hebert for information pertaining to the employment status of Boudreaux.Below is what Hebert had to say:
We decline to provide information in response to the remainder of your request, on the following grounds. [I]nitiation of Laura Boudreaux’s administrative leave, the reasons why she is still on administrative leave, and the status of her reinstatement are exempt from disclosure due to the right to privacy established by Article 1, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution."LCG generally applies the same policies for both classified and unclassified employees, except where the nature of the civil service system dictates otherwise," Hebert says.
Page 9 of Lafayette Consolidated Government's Policy and Procedure Manual 261-6 is where the ins and outs of administrative leave are explained for LCG employees, both civil service and non-civil service. The rules read:
• An employee may be granted administrative leave pending an administrative investigation when the Appointing Authority has reason to believe that the employee has engaged in conduct that, if confirmed, would warrant disciplinary action, and the employee’s continued presence at work during the investigation of the suspected conduct would be contrary to the best interest of LCG.
• The employee shall be given written notice of the administrative leave granted pending investigation and the reasons therefor. The employee shall also be advised that he/she is restricted to confinement to his/her residence during normal working hours. If the employee leaves his/her residence for personal business, the employee must receive prior approval of the Department Director or designee.
• Administrative leave shall be with pay and shall not exceed 30 calendar days without the prior approval of the Department Director.
• The Director of Civil Service may allow administrative leave to be extended for up to 30 additional calendar days upon the Appointing Authority’s written request and reason(s) therefore.
• Upon completion of the investigation, the employee and the Department Director shall be advised of the outcome.
• Administrative leave is not a disciplinary action and is only appealable if the basis for the appeal is discrimination or a violation of these rules.
So, in order to keep the paychecks coming, all Boudreaux has to do is make sure she doesn’t leave home during work hours, unless of course she gets prior approval from the director of her department. At least that should have been the case for the first 30 days, as appears to be stipulated by LCG policy. The policy, though, does allow for an extension after the first 30 days — considering the department director approves — but only for an additional 30 days, no more. The policy clearly states "up to."
Hebert confirms he is Boudreaux's department director but would not say the reason so many extensions have been granted or what in the policy and procedure manual allows him to do this.
That must mean Boudreaux is a special case; as of today, she’s been on what amounts to a vacation for nearly 10 months.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed