Opinion  EC-COI-79-94

Date:	07/10/1979
Organization:	State Ethics Commission

Discussion

You are a full-time state employee. You ask whether you may now collect payment for work you completed for a private firm, XYZ Corporation (XYZ), prior to undertaking your present state job without violating General Laws Chapter 268A.

In rendering this opinion, the Commission has been guided by, and will continue to follow for the near future, the interpretations and opinions of the Attorney General issued prior to November 1, 1978, the effective date of the Commission's jurisdiction over General Laws Chapter 268A matters.  Furthermore, in rendering this opinion, the Commission has relied upon the facts as you have presented them and has not made an independent investigation of these facts.

As a state employee, you are subject to the prohibitions contained in § 4 which prohibit a state employee from receiving or requesting compensation from anyone other than the Commonwealth or a state agency in relation to any particular matter in which the Commonwealth or a state agency is a party or has a direct and substantial interest. As a sales representative, your accounts included several community colleges. You were compensated by commissions calculated by your record of shipment. You state that the determination of your compensation is based solely on services or events occurring prior to your becoming a state employee.

The Attorney General held in a prior opinion that as long as the value of your services are determined prior to your becoming a state employee, the mere fact that payment is deferred does not violate § 4. Attorney General Conflict Opinion No. 104. Therefore, you may accept the compensation without violating General Laws Chapter 268A.

End Of Decision