Staff Reports
Yes Virginia, there is a Rick Scott.
The Governor announced Friday that state offices “will be closed on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in recognition of state employees’ hard work throughout the year, including the response and recovery from Hurricane Michael.”
Office closures on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are in addition to regular office closures on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
“I’m proud to give state employees Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve off this year,” Scott said in a statement.
“Following the devastating impact of (Hurricane Michael), I witnessed Floridians coming together to help each other, and I saw thousands of state employees working around the clock to support families in the Panhandle,” he added. “These two additional holidays are well-deserved and a small way to show our appreciation for their efforts.”
Scott said that during his eight years as governor, “we have experienced an incredible economic turnaround in Florida and that turnaround would not be possible without the hard work of state employees.
“I hope that every Florida family has a wonderful holiday spent with friends and loved ones.”
Florida employees normally get nine holidays off throughout the year: New Year’s, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. , Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after, as well as Christmas.
Unmentioned in the announcement was how the extra days off will impact the state’s hourly employees, who generally go unpaid during office closures unlike salaried employees.
Still, the extra days off are a gesture of goodwill toward the rank-and-file, who were often at odds with Scott when he took office at the height of the Great Recession.
With the state coffers bare, Scott made a successful push to cut state employee salaries by 3 percent to offset the state’s contribution to their retirement accounts. After years without a raise, Scott signed a bill last year giving a $1,400 raise to state workers making $40,000 or less and a $1,000 raise to those making more.
15 comments
Dee
December 8, 2018 at 4:41 am
Unless you are a police, sheriff, deputy, corrections, nurse; Thist does not apply , ohhhh and some of us don’t get paid extra to work these holiday days . Thanks for nothing Mr. Scott.
Janice stout
December 8, 2018 at 8:16 am
Shut up you picked your career. Don’t blame him.
Terrshw290@ gmail.com
December 8, 2018 at 8:39 am
You are very rude, just like all Republicans, some of us did not pick our careers this is all the jobs we had to choose from
AElfgifu
December 17, 2018 at 10:45 am
What a well-reasoned generalization…There are quite a few choice phrases that could also be said of “all Democrats” And, yes, you did choose your job; you could have been working at Dollar General, Wal-Mart or Popeye’s.
It is to be hoped that your ‘career’ doesn’t involve communication in any form. Your grammar and punctuation are atrocious. The Great State of Florida is worthy of better representation than that.
Ray Allen
December 8, 2018 at 10:22 am
That’s a lie, I worked in one of those fields and we did get compensation for holidays. It may be comp time so we got a day off later but we were compensated so your lying trying to stir things up.
Dainton
December 9, 2018 at 1:26 pm
(Good answer)There’s always some one to throw in politics just give thanks and move on
Teresa Hatton
December 9, 2018 at 11:15 am
Rather than 2 days off, I would appreciate a raise!! No raise in 10 years, 8 of those with Scott!!
Randall Plummer
December 9, 2018 at 12:57 pm
He’s not giving any raises he putting it in his bank account he thinks he deserves it more
Ricky Warnstead
December 9, 2018 at 12:27 pm
You don’t deserve a raise, if you had any amount of intelligence you would either start working in the private sector or start your own business but unfortunately, some people like you with a less than 75 IQ can’t get your head out of the sand long enough to realize how miniscule your rule is in society as a governmental worker. I hope we stop giving our hard-earned tax dollars to brainless idots such as yourself.
Mike
December 10, 2018 at 9:09 pm
Why in hell do you people feel the need to call each other names and be so rude? If Scott is giving us an extra day off then I’m fine with that,,the stress that goes with law enforcement is very nerve-racking,,so a day to decompress and spend with family is welcomed in my book,,but leave it up to some people to complain about everything! Damn !
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