
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994                   TAG: 9401260172
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

ALLEN TO PROTECT STATE EMPLOYEES HE ONCE THREATENED

To protect state workers from arbitrary dismissal, Gov. George Allen will reclassify about half of the 450 state workers he asked to resign, a top aide said.

Secretary of Administration-designate Michael Thomas' remarks Monday baffled at least one legislator.

Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, called it inconsistent for Allen to threaten the employees and then offer them civil service protection. "I don't think they have their act together in this whole thing. It doesn't make any sense," he said.

Just before Christmas, Allen sent letters to 450 employees asking for their resignations. Allen said the workers could reapply for their jobs after his January inauguration.

About half of the employees were department heads and political appointees who generally leave when a new administration takes office.

The rest were workers whose jobs fall into a personnel category created about a decade ago under then-Gov. Charles Robb. Robb wanted a way to fire key officials for poor performance without going through the long grievance procedures required for the dismissal of regular state employees.

Thomas said the administration would either introduce legislation to eliminate that category or administratively remove everyone from it. Some may be made official political appointees answerable to the governor, but the vast majority will be restored to the ranks of the civil service, he said.

Thomas said the reclassified employees would include budget analysts, medical examiners and road engineers, but not department heads and other political appointees.

"We ought not to have this limbo in-between position that many people find themselves in," Thomas told a legislative committee.

One legislator said the move is a sign that the new Republican governor has learned from the outcry over his request for resignations.

"What you find with situations like these is that sometimes, because of the embarrassment it creates and the backlash it brings, a positive result occurs," said Del. John Davies, D-Culpeper.

by CNB