Freestone County officials discuss whether part-time hires must be advertised before converting to full-time

Freestone County commissioners and county staff discussed whether the county must advertise job openings when a part-time county employee is later made full-time and agreed to gather comparative policies and clarify handbook language; the meeting record shows no formal vote on the matter.

The discussion focused on whether the county’s current employee handbook and county practice exempt part-time positions from advertisement and whether that exemption can be used when a part-time hire later becomes full-time. A county official said, “we have talked about whether or not we would have to advertise if we are moving a part time person into a full time position.”

County officials said the handbook language is ambiguous. One commissioner suggested emphasizing or bolding specific wording in the Freestone County employee handbook to make clear whether the exemption applies to part-time positions only or also to conversions from part time to…