CEO 88-39 -- June 9, 1988

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

D.H.R.S. INSTITUTIONAL VOCATIONAL COUNSELOR SUPERVISOR

AT STATE HOSPITAL EMPLOYED BY FUNERAL HOME

WHICH CONTRACTS WITH HOSPITAL

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists under Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, where a Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services institutional vocational counselor supervisor at the Florida State Hospital is employed by a funeral home which contracts with the hospital to provide funeral services. Here, the employee plays no role in the contracting process between the Hospital and the funeral home and is not in a position to make referrals to his private employer. CEO 86-63 is referenced.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where you, a Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services Institutional Vocational Counselor Supervisor at the Florida State Hospital, are employed by a funeral home which contracts with the hospital to provide funeral services?

Under the circumstances presented, your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry and in a telephone conversation with our staff, you advised that you are employed by the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services as an Institutional Vocational Counselor Supervisor at the Florida State Hospital. Your responsibilities include direct supervision of institutional educational personnel who provide vocational training for mental patients as part of the Hospital's comprehensive treatment program. You also are employed during your off-duty weekend hours at a funeral home which contracts with the Hospital to provide funeral services for patients who die while institutionalized and whose families have not provided for funeral arrangements. The funeral home usually provides these funerals during the week, as requested, and you do not assist with any services contracted by the Hospital.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides in relevant part:

CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. -- No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he is an officer or employee . . . ; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. [Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes (1987).]

This provision prohibits a public employee from having any employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is doing business with his agency, or an employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties.

In previous opinions we have found that the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees would not prohibit Department employees from outside employment where they played no role in the contracting process between the Department and their private employer, where their public duties were unrelated to the employer and its contract with the Department, and where they were not in a position to make referrals to the private employer. See, for example, CEO 86-63. As was the situation in that opinion, you have no role in the contracting process between the Hospital and your private employer, your public duties are unrelated to the funeral home and their contract with the Department, and you are not in a position to make referrals to your private employer.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists where you, an Institutional Vocational Counselor Supervisor at Florida State Hospital, are employed part-time by a funeral home which contracts with the Hospital.