PINE BLUFF, Jefferson County — Hundreds of Jefferson County employees are not going to receive their paychecks on time.
As of now, it's not known when they will get paid.
The reason for the delay is because of two employees. The county judge said they should not be on the payroll, but others have been saying that they should be.
The payroll consists of around 400 employees and half a million dollars.
"Employers don't have to worry about employees coming to work, therefore employees shouldn't have to worry about getting paid," said Shajyveon Winston.
Winston has worked for Jefferson County for four years. Now, he's worried that he won't be able to pay his bills on time.
"Because even the bill I've got personally, [it's] a bill that could cause legal jeopardy," said Winston.
Employees were supposed to have received their checks already, but the payroll hasn't been signed off. That's County Judge Gerald Robinson's job.
Judge Robinson said he can't do it in good faith because there are two employees on the payroll who are getting paid illegally.
One of those employees in question is the county assessor's daughter.
"The issue is she is working in my office," said Assessor Gloria Tillman.
Her daughter was hired by the previous assessor and has worked there since 2016. That was before Assessor Tillman took over the position.
Officials agree there is a nepotism clause in the county policy, but there are questions about if this applies.
"The ordinance states that I cannot employ any relatives. I did not employ her. It says that I cannot supervise her. I do not supervise her. I have a chief deputy and two supervisors within my office over her," Tillman explained.
County Judge Gerald Robinson said until the two employee issues were corrected he would not sign the payroll.
He issued a court order to the county clerk directing her to remove the pay of the two employees in question.
However, the county clerk said she can't do that.
"I don't have the legal authority and neither does he to remove another employee from another elected official's payroll," said Jefferson County Clerk Shawndra Taggart.
In response, the county judge told us, "I'm not going to sit there and stand by and let these individuals take county funds, knowing that they're not legally bound to receive those funds."
We tried to figure out what attorney could help answer these legal questions.
The county attorney is out of the office and the prosecuting attorney said he won't get involved unless there is criminal intent, which he said he hasn't investigated yet.
If county employees have questions, there will be a community meeting on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. at the Reynolds Community Services Center.