VIDEO: Six E911 Operators Reprimanded After All Calling Out Sick On Same Day

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Jobs are on the line for two Lowndes County E911 operators.

Lowndes County Supervisors had a special called meeting to discuss personnel issues.

There was some heated discussion this morning regarding 6 E-911 operators all calling out sick on the same day.

“It was two shifts of dispatchers so you can imagine, when they don’t show up, it puts the county in a real bind,” says the attorney of Lowndes County E911 Board of Commissioners, Will Cooper.

The board went into executive discussion almost immediately.

When they came out, Board President, Harry Sanders, made a motion to terminate all 6 operators who called out sick.

However, District 5 Supervisor, Leroy Brooks, said that was extreme and the motion died.

“The truth of the matter is, they followed the policy, now what was going on in their minds I don’t know, but they followed the policy so I just wasn’t for terminating them,” says Brooks.

Sanders declined to comment, but was noticeably upset after his motion died.

E-911 operators have their own board that oversees them: the E-911 Board of Commissioners.

“The Board of Commissioners actually works to the will and pleasure of the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Commissioners is set up by statute but the board of supervisors not only control all the funding, but pursuant to the statute they have the authority to take action as well,” says Cooper.

Supervisors asked the Sheriff’s Department to investigate whether the actions of the 6 operators constituted a conspiracy, and if it might be in protest of a pay increase that only benefited some dispatchers.

“The report that the sheriff brought in was basically- these people said they had nothing to do with the pay, some of them were sick, some of them had excuses from their doctor- so we have to go on the facts, not what we all feel in our hearts. So that’s what I went on, basically the facts,” says Brooks.

“Our decision as the Board of Commissioners was to send out a memo and require all of them to sign, basically saying that this type of action would not be tolerated and if it happened again, it would result in termination,” says Cooper.

“What they need to do is be focused on what their job is because people’s lives are at stake. And not the issue of how much they make, we’re gonna address that in time, but you need to focus on what your job is and let us handle the rest of it,” says Brooks.

As of this morning, 2 operators have refused to sign the memorandum.

The Board Supervisors is giving them until Monday to sign, otherwise they will be terminated.