December 2022: Volume 5, Issue 4

Our Mission: To provide merit-based, innovative workforce solutions which enable state government to attract, develop and retain a productive, diverse and engaged workforce that excels in delivering quality services to the citizens of Louisiana.

Excellent Compliance Audits

State Civil Service would like to commend LSU Agricultural Center for a perfect Compliance Audit. This agency achieved 100% compliance in all categories audited. 

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is also to be commended for an excellent Compliance Audit. This agency achieved 90% compliance or higher in all categories audited, had no areas of concern, and no major rule violations. 

The results received by these agencies show the value and importance of excellence they place on Civil Service rule compliance. They are to be commended for a job well done!

State Civil Service and the Baton Rouge Testing & Recruiting Center will be closed on the following dates for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

• December 23, 2022
• December 26, 2022
• December 30, 2022
• January 2, 2023

There will be no testing on these days.

The State Civil Service Commission recognized Commissioner G. Lee Griffin upon his retirement from the Commission this month. 

Mr. Griffin served on the Commission for 24 years. He was appointed to the State Civil Service Commission in 1998, after being nominated by Tulane University and appointed by Governor Mike Foster. He has been subsequently nominated and reappointed by former Governors Blanco and Jindal, and most recently by Governor John Bel Edwards.

“Commissioner Griffin’s impact on our state has been immeasurable. He has been a tremendous advocate for employees of our state and always ensured our state agencies had the tools they needed to meet their missions,” said State Civil Service Director Byron P. Decoteau, Jr. “On behalf of the Commission and our Department, we thank you for your dedicated service.”

In addition to serving on the State Civil Service Commission, Mr. Griffin is a retired chairman and CEO of Bank One of Louisiana, and he has been extremely active in his community through many affiliations.

“It has been a great privilege for me to work with a lot of wonderful commissioners, State Civil Service Directors, and staff members for so long. I’ve seen the effectiveness of the Department grow over the years and I’m glad to be a very small part of it,” said Griffin in his remarks at his last meeting.

We are thankful for Mr. Griffin's dedicated service to the Commission and the state of Louisiana over these last 24 years and wish him the best.

The holiday shopping season is here, and while millions of Americans will be looking for the best deals the internet has to offer, cyber criminals will be hard at work looking to target online shoppers. The holiday shopping season is a prime opportunity for bad actors to take advantage of unsuspecting shoppers through fake websites, malicious links, and even fake charities. Their goal is simple: get a hold of your personal and financial information to compromise your data, insert malicious software, steal your identity and take your money. 

 At CISA, we are committed to helping Americans better protect themselves online. This holiday shopping season, we’re here to provide a few easy steps to prevent you from becoming a victim of cyber-crime.  

Using strong passwords, updating your software, thinking before you click on suspicious links, and turning on multi-factor authentication are the basics of what we call “cyber hygiene” and will drastically improve your online safety.  

Here are the 4 common sense ways to protect yourself online.  And watch the 4 steps video!

• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your accounts and make it much less likely you’ll get hacked. Watch our videos on MFA: 2 Legit to Quit and Country 2-Step.
• Update your software. In fact, turn on automatic updates.  
• Think before you click. Most successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.  
• Use strong passwords, and ideally a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.