120 Day Contracts to Help Fix Shortages?

To help combat extreme shortages all across the state, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is set to begin recruiting retired law enforcement officers including state troopers to fill 120 day contracts according to State Rep John Mark Windle. TDOC has experienced multiple staffing shortages that have led to increase overtime and overworked employees.

The shortages have progressively gotten worse over the last decade. Many variables are contributing factors to the staffing issues. State employee benefits have continued to decrease. The state benefits package has been drastically reduced.

• Longevity pay which was worth $100 per year an employee had been there, paid on their anniversary each year up to 30 years was taken away from all new hires.
• Fully paid retirement became a contributory retirement where new employees had to pay 5% of their salary into the TN consolidated retirement system (TCRS)
• Health insurance that stayed at the same rate once you accomplished 30 years of service and retired, went away for new employees
• A new method for calculating overtime which was based on a 28 day work cycle was put into place (it has since been reduced to a 14 day overtime cycle)

The pay for Correctional Officer series has been increased quite a bit since the staffing shortages began.