2020 Georgia Code
Title 15 - Courts
Chapter 18 - Prosecuting Attorneys
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 15-18-17. Employment of Administrative Personnel Generally

1. Each district attorney is authorized to employ such administrative, clerical, and paraprofessional personnel as may be authorized by the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of the State of Georgia based on funds appropriated by the General Assembly or otherwise available for such purposes; provided, however, that each district attorney shall be authorized not less than two such personnel. In authorizing administrative, clerical, and paraprofessional personnel, the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of the State of Georgia shall consider the case load, present staff, and resources available to each district attorney, and shall make such authorizations as will contribute to the efficiency of individual district attorneys and the effectiveness of prosecuting attorneys throughout the state in their efforts against criminal activity in the state.
2. Personnel appointed pursuant to this Code section shall be compensated based on a salary schedule developed in accordance with Code Section 15-18-19.
3. All personnel actions involving personnel appointed pursuant to this Code section shall be in accordance with the provisions of Code Section 15-18-19.

(Ga. L. 1972, p. 617, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 1506, § 2; Ga. L. 1977, p. 668, § 2; Ga. L. 1981, p. 672, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1486, §§ 2, 4; Ga. L. 1985, p. 434, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1226, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 15; Ga. L. 1993, p. 91, § 15; Ga. L. 1997, p. 143, § 15; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1319, § 10; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1521, § 3.)

Intent of General Assembly, in authorizing the employment of secretaries, was to ensure that superior court judges and district attorneys were provided with adequate assistance so they could accomplish their official tasks in an efficient manner without being burdened by clerical problems. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-104.

- Intent of the General Assembly in providing for the employment and compensation of secretaries for superior court judges and district attorneys and providing that certain of these secretaries must become members of the Employees Retirement System was to provide superior court judges and district attorneys with adequate secretarial assistance so their official duties could be accomplished efficiently without undue clerical problems; it is reasonable that the General Assembly did not intend for this to penalize certain secretaries by forcing their removal from county retirement programs. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-70.

- Clearly, a secretary is also a state employee. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U79-12.

- In calculating a merit increase for a state paid secretary of a district attorney, the increase should be calculated on the secretary's current annual salary. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-29.

- District attorney may grant merit pay raises to the attorney's secretaries appointed under the authority of O.C.G.A. § 15-18-17 so long as the secretaries' salaries do not exceed the maximum allowed by the statute, and the secretaries have not received a merit increase during the past year. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U83-2.

No merit pay increase is authorized that would result in the secretary's state paid salary exceeding the maximum salary in the pay scale authorized by O.C.G.A. § 15-18-17 regardless of the number of pay increases that the state paid secretary of a district attorney has received. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-29.