News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
White County has a new HR Director in Jennifer Rigsby.
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said elected county officials are not trained for human resources, so creating the position was a need.
“Number one, it takes liability off the county,” Robinson said. “And number two, there are things that county employees are by law entitles to that we may not know about, so it is good for the employees, it is good for the county and it is good for the tax payers.”
Robinson said Rigsby is a White County native with years of experience in the field. Robinson said having the position will hopefully cut down on employee lawsuits.
“When we come into office, we have resources,” Robinson said. “There is training. There is stuff that we can go to to teach us about county government and how to do the jobs. There is nothing about human resources. Nothing about how to handle employees. Nothing about the paperwork you need people to sign or the training that needs to be done.”
Among the legal actions, in August of 2020 the White County Commission agreed to a $225,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the county. Several White County Sheriff’s Office employees were allegedly being under compensated for time worked.
“Having a professional here to show us and handle employee issues is going to be a very money saving position for the county in the long haul,” Robinson said.
