State employees will be paid for work missed due to flood

Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday that state employees will be paid for the time that they missed work during flooding two weeks ago. She also appointed the head of one of her cabinet agencies to lead flood-recovery efforts.

Haley will sign an executive order forgiving the time that state employees were out of work due to the flood.

That has been done in the past — for example, for snow days — allowing employees to be paid without having to use their annual leave, said Brian Gaines, spokesman for the Department of Administration.

Haley also named Department of Motor Vehicles head Kevin Shwedo as state disaster-recovery coordinator for an indefinite amount of time. “We are going to do it until the job is done,” Haley said.

John Laganelli who is Motor Vehicles’ chief of staff and director of operations will fill in for Shwedo.

“The key is getting on the ground and finding out what’s needed,” said Shwedo, who is a board member of Haley’s The Original Six Foundation, a charitable nonprofit.

Shwedo’s flood-recovery role will include coordinating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state agencies, local governments and non-profit organizations.

Before joining Haley’s cabinet, Shwedo was deputy commanding officer of the U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Jackson. He retired from Army in 2011, as a colonel, after 32 years of service.

Shwedo’s pay as the state’s flood-relief chief will be the same as he was paid to lead Motor Vehicles – $122,969 a year.

In addition, all 67 Department of Motor Vehicle locations will collect flood-relief donations. Specifically, the agency wants cleaning supplies, toiletries, new clothing and money for the Red Cross.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "State employees will be paid for work missed due to flood."