Supervisors extend state of emergency and hazardous pay

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors extended the hazardous pay and administrative leave for county employees through April 20 at their meeting on Monday.

The board voted on March 30, 2020, to put the hazardous pay order in place for two weeks. The order required all county offices to go to skeleton crews (minimal number of employees needed) to conduct the county’s business and operations.

Under the order, employees were sent home on administrative leave and were paid their normal compensation while they are ordered to stay at home. If a worker was needed to work, under the order they received what is referred to as hazardous pay which will be paid in one and a half time the employees normal rate.

The plan in place is costing approximately $5,000.00 per day for the Sheriff’s Department and approximately $2,500 per day for the rest of the county offices combined according to County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin. The board agreed to extend the order in alignment with Governor Tate Reeves Shelter in Place order that also runs through Monday, April 20 at 5:00pm.

The board also extended the State of Emergency for another 30 days. The board can shut down this order at anytime if it so deems necessary prior to the 30 days running out.

Lumpkin said that the county should keep it in effect as long as the national and state has it in effect in case of possible federal funding that may be available in the future for any form of reimbursement that may come about in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.