West Virginia DHHR Waste Watch Looks At The Status Of Three Employees Working From Home August 21, 2012
EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO C L I C K T O P L A Y
Many state Department of Health and Human Resources workers report here to the agency's offices in downtown Charleston.
But lately that is not been the case for three senior officials. Assistant Secretary John Law, Deputy Secretary Susan Perry and general counsel Jennifer Taylor have been out of the office and on administrative leave since the week of July 16.
Interim Secretary Rocco Fucillo made the decision after the three raised objections to an advertising contract awarded by the agency.
The state, however, doesn't allow workers to be suspended with pay.
Combined, the three on leave make nearly $5,000 a week in salary and benefits. That means over the past five weeks, the state has paid them nearly $25,000 to work from home.
"Every person in this agency who is working for DHHR, drawing a paycheck is assigned work, to the best of my knowledge,” Fucillo said.
An investigation is under way covering what happened after the contract was awarded.
“I think, the best that I'm going to respond to that is with personnel matters, that I don't think that it's . . . that I should comment on the investigation at all,” Fucillo said.
The decision to have three senior employees work from home isn't the only job-related question Fucillo is facing. He lives in Clarksburg and isn't in the Charleston headquarters five days a week. But he said that shouldn't be an issue.
When asked whether he had been fairly characterized in the media, he said he “doesn’t pay attention to that. It's not my . . . it's not my first interest. I was asked to do this job. I really liked the job I was doing before, so I really took some time to think about it. And all I'm here to do is public service. So I'm not here about my image one way or the other; I just want to do what's right for the state.”
With this Waste Watch report in Charleston, Kennie Bass Eyewitness News.
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