Droppin’ dimes, droppin’ dimes
Gov. Greg Abbott and Comptroller Glenn Hegar on Wednesday ordered state agencies to stop paying departing employees by placing them on “emergency leave.”
“Pursuant to this directive, the use of emergency leave, administrative leave or other mechanisms to continue paying state employees who have ceased to work will be prohibited,” the directive from Abbott and Hegar stated. The directive will remain in place until the Legislature takes up the issue during next year’s legislative session, Abbott’s office said.
The Dallas Morning News and other media outlets have recently reported on the growing practice by agencies to keep departing employees on the payroll by placing them on “emergency leave,” often as a form of severance.
The practice first came to light after reports that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton paid his first assistant attorney and communications director for months after they left the agency. Subsequent stories revealed the General Land Office continued to pay departing employees without using the emergency leave designation.
Representatives of both agencies said they will follow the governor’s new order.
“We appreciate Governor Abbott’s leadership,” said Marc Rylander, spokesman for the attorney general’s office. “We do not disagree with the Governor’s new policy for all agencies subject to the direction of the governor, and we will concur with it moving forward.”
Brittany Eck, GLO spokeswoman, said the agency will suspend the use of separation agreements until lawmakers decide how to proceed.
“We look forward to continuing our work with the Governor, Comptroller, and members of the Texas Legislature to not only clarify the law on this issue but also discuss how state agencies should manage its workforce in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” Eck said.
See here and here for the background. The Lone Star Project requested an investigation into this a couple of days ago. I guess it had finally gotten to the point where Abbott could no longer ignore the issue. Trail Blazers and the Chron have more.
Better late than never……exactly. I bet if there was no publicity about this, it would still be going on today. I wonder if Abbott is going to pursue this, or just hope the story dies out? The way I see it, the taxpayers have been fleeced, and the recipients need to pay restitution to the state, and those who authorized this need to face criminal charges.
Maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath.
Abbott will do squat. Priceless the way the Republicans complimented themselves on their “leadership” on this issue. Surprised that Obamacare was not blamed for the issue.
I wonder if Trump called the journalists “sleazy” who brought up the uncomfortable subject of government fraud.