Three of four former LSU administrators, forced to resign from the university’s IT department earlier this year for failing to comply with a little-known state law requiring them to register their vehicles in the state, are suing the university, LSU President F. King Alexander and Chief Financial Officer Dan Layzell in 19th Judicial District Court.
In a suit filed late Wednesday, the plaintiffs seek damages and a jury trial, accusing the university and its top brass of negligence, fraud in the inducements, misrepresentations and breach of contract that have left them “without income and unable to secure full-time employment.”
The suit was not unexpected. In mid-April, an attorney for the plaintiffs, Larry Bankston, sent a letter to the Louisiana Board of Regents and the executive counsel for the LSU Board of Supervisors, essentially outlining the case against the university.
Bankston said LSU failed to tell his clients—IT experts hired by LSU in 2017—about a 2013 state law requiring unclassified state employees who earn more than $100,000 per year to register their vehicles in the state and get a Louisiana driver’s license as a condition of their employment.
All three administrators, who claimed Illinois as their primary residence, earned more than $100,000.
LSU officials didn’t tell his clients about the law at the time of their hiring and, in fact, didn’t make them aware of it until late January. Even then, the university waited until March—after an audit into the issue had been completed—to tell them it was a requirement of their continued employment, says Bankston, who described the situation as a “total failure by the senior leadership of LSU.”
The letter and the recent lawsuit go on to detail an offer LSU made to the administrators in early March—in what Bankston has described as an effort to make negative media attention into the issue go away—agreeing to hire them back on a contract basis if they would resign.
LSU later rescinded the offer.
An attorney for LSU has previously said he appreciates that the administrators were unaware of the law, but that “the result under the clear language remains the same.”
In a statement provided to Daily Report this afternoon, LSU Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel Thomas Skinner says the lawsuit is without merit. “LSU had no option but to enforce the crystal-clear state law,” Skinner says. “The former employees were given multiple opportunities and time to comply, but they absolutely refused to obtain Louisiana driver’s licenses. Case closed.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a statement from LSU Vice President and General Counsel Thomas Skinner.
