The temporary workforce reduction policy for Pulaski County employees will be extended after all. The policy, which allows certain “non-essential” county employees to stay home while still getting paid their regular rate, had been set to expire at the end of the day Monday.
But during Monday morning’s county commissioners meeting, Commissioner Jerry Locke said that after listening to Governor Holcomb’s update on Friday, he felt the county should extend its workforce reduction for another two weeks. “So far, Pulaski County’s been very fortunate with just one confirmed case,” Locke said. “I think the general consensus is we’d like to stay there.”
This is a bit of a reversal from last week, when it was announced that employees would be expected to resume their regular work hours starting Tuesday. County Attorney Kevin Tankersley said Monday that county offices have the ability to implement social distancing measures and that there are federal provisions in place for employees who need to stay home due to illness or to take care of their kids.
It was pointed out that if the county were to end its workforce reduction, County Health Officer Dr. Rex Allman would like to see every employee’s temperature taken when they arrive for work. But Tankersley said Allman didn’t bring that up to him when they discussed the policy. “We had a conversation,” Tankersley said. “I told him exactly what we planned to do. He was okay with it. If he wants us now to take temperatures, that would have been nice to know before this very minute because you need to know details. What’s the temperature limitation? Who’s going to do it?”
In the end, the commissioners voted unanimously to extend the temporary workforce reduction policy until May 4 at 11:59 p.m., with the added stipulations that each county office has to be manned during its regular hours and that department heads should call employees in, if needed, to get the work done.
Tankersley stressed that the policy only applies to county employees, not private businesses. “Only about, ballpark, 30 of our employees actually were sent home,” he explained. “Most of our larger departments have been operating at full staff.”
The attorney also said he’d rather refer to county offices as being under a “restricted access period” rather than “closed to the public.” Residents may still make an appointment to visit a county office in-person or conduct business by phone or email.
