Costello Pushing To Reform Merit Protection Law
With push for merit protection reform, Oklahoma labor commissioner sure to get noticed
The Oklahoman Editorial
NOW three years on the job as Oklahoma’s labor commissioner, Mark Costello hasn’t been in the news much. That may be about to change.
Costello would like to see the state’s merit protection law get an overhaul. Presently the law is a 47-page “albatross,” as he calls it, that keeps state government from performing as well as it can.
“We’ve taken the privilege of state employment and turned it into a property right that needs to be litigated,” Costello told The Oklahoman’s editorial board recently. “If we have to lawyer up every time we suspend an employee for a few days … it freezes up the whole atmosphere.”
An example: Costello said his predecessor, Lloyd Fields, spent $192,000 trying to get rid of one employee.