Sally to Make Over $500K; Regents Clueless
Sally Clausen, Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education, is set to make over $500 thousand in total pay this fiscal year. However, her retire/rehire machinations of the past year may be examined by her bosses, the Board of Regents.
The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune has the story…
When Sally Clausen made the abrupt decision to retire as commissioner of higher education last August, she kept it quiet from the 16-member governing board that hired her a year earlier for the $425,000-a-year position.
And when Clausen was rehired to the same job after spending one weekday as an official state retiree, getting a substantial lump-sum payment in the process, the move again was made without consultation with members of the board appointed by the governor to coordinate policy for the state’s 19 public colleges, universities and professional schools.
Instead, the maneuver was revealed only to a small circle of Clausen’s subordinates, according to e-mails and other documents obtained by The Times-Picayune through a public records request.
Although Clausen plans to cut her pay in the next fiscal year, she is getting $515,625 this year, or $90,625 more than if she had not retired and come back to work. That’s because Clausen received a lump-sum payment in mid-August for 300 hours of unused vacation time and 200 hours of sick leave.
And then there is this:
While Clausen’s actions broke no laws or policies, they have raised questions about what role, if any, regents should play in such decisions. The issue could come up as early as today, when a six-member executive committee of the regents is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting in Baton Rouge to discuss the 30 percent budget reduction that Gov. Bobby Jindal has proposed for the board in his executive budget.
For now, according to Meg Casper, the board’s associate commissioner for public affairs, the Regents’ internal operating rules “are silent as to the process for rehiring a commissioner.”
Board of Regents Chairman Artis Terrell Jr. and Clausen declined requests to be interviewed.
Allow us to translate: “Those of us charged with supervising the higher education bureaucracy don’t have a clue as to what our employees are doing.”
Originally posted at Lincoln Parish News Online.
"…broke no laws or policies?" I thought it was a policy that employees of the state had to wait at least one year after retirement before they could be rehired into the same position.
I guess that's just for the lesser common folk.
"…broke no laws or policies?" I thought it was a policy that employees of the state had to wait at least one year after retirement before they could be rehired into the same position.
I guess that's just for the lesser common folk.
Guest – you are clueless. Did Kim Hunter Reed hire her initially? No…… The Board of Regents did. So why would Ms. Clausen's subordinate have the authority to hire her thereafter? The answer is – she doesn't. Both of these witches have to go. Period.
Finally, is nothing else. This is unethical. And to be specific. Ethics has nothing to do with the HR handbook or legality of this. It is pain unethical and wrong to knowingly and willingly take an additional $90,000 from the state when the very system that you supervise if facing 30% budget cuts. Ms. Clausen seems so in touch with the people that have and will be shit canned (and all sarcasm is in fact intended)
Guest – you are clueless. Did Kim Hunter Reed hire her initially? No…… The Board of Regents did. So why would Ms. Clausen's subordinate have the authority to hire her thereafter? The answer is – she doesn't. Both of these witches have to go. Period.
Finally, is nothing else. This is unethical. And to be specific. Ethics has nothing to do with the HR handbook or legality of this. It is pain unethical and wrong to knowingly and willingly take an additional $90,000 from the state when the very system that you supervise if facing 30% budget cuts. Ms. Clausen seems so in touch with the people that have and will be shit canned (and all sarcasm is in fact intended)