Tag: West Virginia State Personnel Board

State Personnel Board Votes to Lay Off 37 in Forestry

Several dozen West Virginia Division of Forestry employees are being laid off this week.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail says the forestry workers have helped clean up areas devastated by last week’s flooding and hauled supplies to flood victims. They police the state’s logging industry and fight forest fires.

The State Personnel Board voted Tuesday to approve the plan to lay off 37 division employees. Their last day on the job will be Thursday.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has blamed the cuts on state lawmakers. The division wound up with a $1.7 million shortfall after lawmakers passed a lower severance tax on the timber industry than Tomblin requested.

State legislative leaders have said Tomblin didn’t give them a heads-up about the pending forestry cuts. Lawmakers have said they would have looked for ways to spare the jobs if he had.

37 West Virginia Forestry Layoffs Averted for Now

A state board has voted to postpone a plan to lay off 37 West Virginia Division of Forestry employees.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the State Personnel Board voted unanimously Thursday in front of about 70 forestry employees.

The decision to delay the layoffs immediately drew a plea to reconsider from the Department of Commerce, which oversees forestry. Department spokeswoman Chelsea Ruby said that for every month of delay, another three employees have to be eliminated.

Foresters and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s administration have blamed the layoffs on lawmakers. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a lower severance tax on the timber industry than Tomblin suggested. As a result, the Division of Forestry was short $1.7 million.

Ruby said the shortfall can’t be addressed by limiting employee hours.

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