The secretary of state's office employees who were told they'd be placed on paid leave through mid-January when their employment will end won't remain on payroll after all.
Last week, the 10 employees were told to stop coming to work because they won't be retained by Secretary of State-elect John Thurston, but current secretary of state's office officials said those workers would be placed on paid leave until Thurston takes office Jan. 15.
However, Secretary of State Mark Martin's chief deputy, Kelly Boyd, told the employees in a letter this weekend that the offer of paid leave was being revoked under the advice of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
Boyd's letter, which was obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette over the weekend, gave the employees until 5 p.m. Monday to pick between two options.
"1. You can resign effective Monday December 3, 2018 and receive any due unpaid accrued vacation time with your final pay (up to 240 hours)," the letter reads. "2. Alternatively, you may choose to exhaust your accrued leave and remain [a secretary of state] employee during that time. Once accrued leave has been exhausted, you will be placed on leave without pay until January 12, 2019 at which time your employment will cease."
A spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin declined to comment Monday afternoon.
It's common to have staff turnover in state constitutional offices whenever a new officer is elected. Thurston, a Republican from East End, is the current commissioner of state lands; he was elected the next secretary of state last month. Martin is term limited.
Those being terminated include a division director, a state Capitol police officer and a number of administrative assistants.
Boyd will also not be retained by Thurston. He'll be the chief deputy for Thurston's replacement, Land Commissioner-elect Tommy Land, R-Heber Springs.
Thurston said in an interview last week that after he was elected commissioner of state lands in 2010, his predecessor placed several employees who wouldn't be retained on paid leave.
Spokesmen for the state treasurer and auditor said there was no record of any employees being placed on paid leave during the previous transitions in those offices.
The practice of placing state employees on paid leave who had neither earned the leave nor were under investigation came under scrutiny in 2011 after an audit report of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department was released.
The audit found that the agency's legal division employees were allowed to take half the day off every third Friday, on a rotating basis, while being paid for the time not at work. The agency's then-chief lawyer was fired over the practice.
Several of the affected secretary of state's office employees interviewed on Monday were confused and frustrated after learning of their plight over the weekend. The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were still determining how to proceed.
"I don't get how you can tell us we'll be paid one day, and a few days later tell us we're not getting paid and we have to resign," one employee said. "That's not right."
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 12/11/2018
