State job applicant site down for next 6 weeks

People seeking many rank-and-file state positions cannot apply for them because Tennessee has stopped taking applications and won't resume until Aug. 26.

The application site shutdown is blamed on system upgrades. The application shutdown affects every state agency, but doesn't affect the application process for executive positions.

"We are currently not accepting applications at this time due to system updates. We will continue accepting applications on August 26, 2015," reads a statement at the top of the application site.

That means, for the time being, hiring will grind to a halt, said Danielle Barnes, Department of Human Resources deputy commissioner.

"It will in effect stop it for a while," Barnes said Wednesday afternoon.

Tennessee only accepts applications for state positions online. The portal for staff employee applications has been closed since at least Monday.

Although applications are only accepted online, other staff changes such as promotions or suspensions may require paperwork, Barnes said. The upgrade will move those staff changes to an electronic format and shouldn't cost the state any additional money, she said.

"This new product will allow us to obviously be more effective and efficient, allow us to be paperless and allow us to really get those transactions approved a lot more quickly," Barnes said.

The closure period occurs when state prison security forces are facing manpower shortages. However, Connie Johnson, employee relations director for the Department of Correction, said Wednesday that people could still apply for correctional officer positions via email.

"We are going to change our website in order to accept our applications," Johnson said Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson told The Tennessean the department was in the process of changing the site. The change allows applicants to download an application from the department's website, then submit applications directly to a department email address.

Although Johnson said she didn't have access to the email account, she said someone would be checking the account every day. She wasn't positive as to the exact day the main state application site was shut down, but she said it may have been down since some point last week.

Jobs such as correctional officers are considered "non-competitive" or positions that may be harder to fill, Barnes said. For these positions, applicants apply directly to the agency in question instead of through the state HR department.

A department policy memo lists roughly 30 jobs as "non-competitive."

The state can still take applications for high-level, at-will employees such as commissioners or wardens and directors of correctional facilities. But it can't accept new applications for more rank-and-file positions.

Tennessee state law defines two types of employees: "executive" and "preferred" service employees. The online job application portal specifically applies to "preferred service" employees.

In state code, those employees are defined essentially as someone who doesn't lead a department or agency in some capacity; a doctor; an attorney; or someone serving in a "confidential capacity" to a commissioner or similar official.

In June the state unveiled an updated website design, including the new and controversial state logo. Although there were some reports of glitches with the site, there is no immediate indication the new website and the job application site issues are connected.

Correction officers have reported staffing problems at Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility and Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning and Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg.

At Lois DeBerry, the prison's leadership last week put out an "all hands on deck" call and characterized the situation as "emergency staffing issues."

The prisons have been losing officers since the Tennessee Department of Correction converted its prison security force from a traditional 40-hour workweek to a 28-day cycle to save $1.4 million in annual overtime costs.

The change caused officers to have to work 28 days or longer before they could get a paycheck with overtime. The switch made it more difficult for them to be with their families and to schedule any part-time employment. As officers quit, those remaining ended up having to work multiple double shifts — sometimes without overtime if they were allotted comp days within the revised pay period.

A June 18 memo from Gary Hamby, the acting warden of security at Morgan County Correctional Complex, noted that it would take six weeks before overtime was paid after being earned.

Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 or @TomWilemon. Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 or @Dave_Boucher1.