Hospital System Balks At Hiring Freeze
by Robert Travis Scott - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- The Charity Hospital System has raised an alarm that Gov. Bobby Jindal's state government hiring freeze is impairing its effort to fill vacancies for more than 100 registered nurses and 200 other jobs in New Orleans to rebuild the public health care system after Hurricane Katrina.

To check the growth of the state work force, Jindal signed an executive order Jan. 15, his second day in office, prohibiting state agencies from hiring employees unless granted an exemption from the governor's division of administration.

LSU System President John Lombardi, who oversees the system's universities and the state's Charity hospitals, met with Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis this week to discuss the impact on the hospitals and colleges.

Davis said she asked Lombardi's staff to get back to her as soon as possible with an explanation of the hospital's "critical needs." Once that is received, the division will address the concerns immediately, Davis said.

"I'm waiting on them; they're not waiting on me," Davis said.

In a Jan. 17 memorandum to all state agency heads, Davis said exemptions to the hiring freeze would be considered on a case-by-case basis. A separate request providing "sufficient justification" for an exemption must be submitted for each desired position, and "only critical positions will be approved," the memo said.

The memo lists 10 points that should be provided with each job request and instructs the agencies to submit the forms to a division analyst.

Davis said she would not grant blanket exemptions, such as to particular agencies. But she said she has received urgent requests that were backed up with documentation.