CEO 90-74 -- November 30, 1990

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS CORRECTIONAL OFFICER SUPERVISOR SEEKING EMPLOYMENT AS PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICER

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

SUMMARY:

A prohibited conflict of interest would not exist under Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, that would prohibit a Correctional Officer Supervisor I with the Department of Corrections from being employed by an entity that provides probation and parole services for a county. Here, the entity is neither regulated by nor doing business with the correctional institution where he works, and as a Correctional Officer Supervisor he has no responsibility for determining which inmates are eligible for parole.

QUESTION:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created if a Correctional Officer Supervisor I with a correctional institution was employed part-time as a probation and parole officer by an entity that contracts with a county to provide probation and parole services?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry, you advise that . . . . is a Correctional Officer Supervisor I employed at the Sumter Correctional Institution, Department of Corrections. You also advise that he is considering part-time employment as a Probation and Parole Officer with the Salvation Army in Citrus County, which contracts with the County to provide probation and parole services. You inquire whether the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees would permit him to accept employment in this capacity.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees, particularly Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes, 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.

The first part of this statute prohibits an agency employee from having any employment with any entity which is subject to the agency's regulation or which is doing business with the agency. You have not provided any information that would suggest that the Salvation Army, through its Probation and Parole Office in Citrus County, either does business with the Sumter Correctional Institution or is subject to its regulation. We therefore conclude that the proposed dual employment would not violate this provision of Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes.

The second portion of the statute prohibits an agency employee from having any employment that would create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. We have advised in previous opinions that where an employee has the ability to refer clients to his private employer a prohibited conflict would exist. See CEO 87-76. You have advised that as a Correctional Officer Supervisor I, the subject employee has no responsibility for determining which inmates are eligible for parole. Thus it does not appear that he would be in a position to refer inmates to the Probation and Parole Office in Citrus County that is operated by the Salvation Army. You also have advised that as a Probation and Parole Officer, he would be in a position to recommend that a parolee who violated the terms of his parole be returned to the custody of the Department of Corrections, but that he would not be in a position to recommend that he be incarcerated at the Sumter Correctional Institution. Under the circumstances presented, it is our opinion that the employee is not precluded by the Code of Ethics from accepting employment by the Salvation Army as a Probation and Parole Officer in Citrus County.

Accordingly, we find that the subject Correctional Officer Supervisor I may be employed by the Salvation Army as a Probation and Parole Officer in Citrus County.