“Her predecessor (her mother) held the job for 37 years –
She makes a salary of $80,000 for a job requiring a HS education –
Her son is one of her six deputy clerks”
Q: I’ve been following with interest the curious story of Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples and is now back to work after spending time in jail. My question throughout has been, why hasn’t she been fired?
A: The short answer is, she can’t be fired because she is an elected official and is therefore not considered an employee. County Clerks in Kentucky can only be removed from office if they’re impeached and tried by the Legislature. Indeed, some groups have asked the governor (who can’t fire her) to convene a special session so they can impeach her and/or make statutory changes so that licenses are issued without her name. But he said they was scheduled to meet in four months and saw “no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money calling a special session”. So, I don’t expect she’s going anywhere.
Speaking of thousands of dollars, I was surprised to learn that she makes a salary of $80,000. This is a hefty sum by any standard and more so when you consider that in Rowan County, the average annual pay for all workers was $31,798 in 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, I got curious about other HR-related issues and found out some interesting -if disconcerting- facts:
Education requirements are low– High School seems to be the only education requirement to be a county clerk. What you do need is related experience, and Kim Davis had plenty of it. She worked as deputy clerk for 26 years before being elected to a 4 year term last November.
Her predecessor held the job a long time. – The previous county clerk held that position for 37 years and was no other than……. wait for it, her mother!
Nepotism is allowed – Currently her son works as one of her six deputy county clerks. Rowan County’s HR department apparently sees no problem with an elected official supervising a county employee who is their own child, since this has been the case for at least 26 years and counting.
Of course, at any point she could do what other county clerks who object to same sex marriage have done, and simply resign. But after learning those HR facts, I doubt it’ll happen.
© Copyright Eva Del Rio
Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com
