All Henry County employees get 8.5% raise -- but some aren’t happy about it

HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — Henry County employees expecting to get paid for getting the COVID-19 shot are feeling disappointed. The $1,000 that they were promised last year has still not arrived.

At the same time, they’re finally getting a pay raise they’ve been waiting on for months, but it’s lower than they expected.

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Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in Henry County, where some employees are happy to get a raise, but others are fed up.

The number of employees who have resigned since November paints a stark picture. The county has lost nearly 100 employees, many of whom left because they can make more money in other places doing the same job.

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Henry County commissioners were back at it on Tuesday, discussing a 10.5% raise across the board for all county employees.

The finance department said the raise would just get them back on track and allow them to be competitive.

“This would be a substantial incentive in the county’s effort to retain staff and also recruit staff,” Human Resource Director Harold Cooper said.

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Commissioners voted on the 10.5% raise, but it didn’t pass.

Commissioners Dee Clemmons, Vivian Thomas and Bruce Holmes said they didn’t vote for it because they’re concerned about any county employee making more than $80,000 a year who get a 10.5% pay raise.

“We really should be looking after public safety, DOT, all the employees at the lower end of the spectrum, and you know that’s not happening,” Holmes said. “I would make a suggestion that we give 10.5% to anyone under $80,000.”

Carlotta Harrell said that she doesn’t want to create pay compression.

Commissioners finally came to an agreement on an 8.5% pay increase for everyone.

The $1,000 COVID-19 vaccine bonus wasn’t even on the agenda. The last time the commissioners spoke about it, they were concerned about punishing employees who have a medical or religious exemption from the vaccination.

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