Friday, March 29, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, August 31, 2018
Profitable Non-Profit: For Years, State Employee Paid Twice to Supervise Himself
By News Release @ 8:03 PM :: 5326 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government

State Ethics Commission issues an Advisory Opinion Concluding that the Conflicts of Interests Law and Fair Treatment Law Prohibit a State Employee’s Private Employment.

Hawaii State Ethics Commission, ADVISORY OPINION NO. 2018-3, June 21, 2018 -- Posted August 20, 2018 (excerpts)

I. Facts

A. Employee’s State Position

The Commission understands the facts to be as follows. The Employee’s employment with his State Division (“Division”) predated his employment with the Non-Profit. The Employee’s state duties include coordinating services for members of the public in a somewhat isolated geographical area of the State. The Employee is the only employee at the Division’s office in this area and performs all duties for the office. If he is away, he must close the Division office and state services are unavailable until he returns. He has regular state work hours from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is a salaried employee.

At the Division, he meets with individuals and assists in arranging services for them. As part of that process, the Employee makes recommendations or referrals to private provider agencies that offer the needed services. The Employee has recommended that individuals seek services from his private employer, the Non-Profit.

If an individual needs immediate emergency assistance during state work hours, then the Employee’s state duties require him to respond. Calls for emergency assistance occurring outside of state office hours are handled through a Division hotline.

B. Private Employment with the Non-Profit

The Employee has been privately employed by the Non-Profit for a number of years. The Non-Profit has two contracts with the Division. The first contract is to provide emergency services. This includes fielding calls received from the Division’s hotline. The second contract relates to the Non-Profit’s provision of specialized services for individuals.

The Employee was employed by the Non-Profit in two capacities. First, he was an on-call emergency outreach employee on weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and on alternating weekends. During that time, he was required to respond, on behalf of the Non-Profit, to emergency calls within forty-five minutes of receiving a call. The NonProfit paid him an hourly rate for on-call services, and a higher rate if he responded to an emergency call.

On average, the Employee responded to one or two emergency calls a month. The amount of time required to respond to calls varied depending on the situation, but could take up to several hours. If, as an employee of the Non-Profit, he responded to a call during state work hours, he would take vacation leave for his time away. Because he is the only Division employee in his area, when fielding an emergency call, he closed the Division office. He informed the Commission that, if he received an emergency call during state business hours, he might reschedule state meetings to accommodate his private work.

Second, in addition to providing on-call services, the Employee’s duties for the Non-Profit also included providing specialized services to clients of the Non-Profit. The Employee stated that he was the only provider of these services in the area.

there does not appear to be direct, continuous, and vigilant state oversight over the Employee’s situation in this case. The Employee has a direct financial interest in making referrals to his private employer, the Non-Profit. Additionally, the Employee is the only Division employee in his area and has little direct contact with, or oversight by, his supervisor; indeed, he generally speaks with his supervisor via telephone no more than once a week, and he sees his direct supervisor in person less often than that.2 The Division does not currently have policies in place to monitor the Employee’s conflict of interest at this time. Finally, the Commission notes that, while not dispositive, the Division has not supported the Employee’s request to continue as an employee of the Non-Profit and has indicated that it has not received any notice from the Non-Profit that it is unable to satisfy its contractual obligations to the Division. These facts weigh against allowing the Employee’s private employment despite the unusual circumstances….  

read … Full Report 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT