TDOC Announces Salary Adjustments for Probation and Parole Staff

TSEA May 20, 2021 Comments Off on TDOC Announces Salary Adjustments for Probation and Parole Staff
TDOC Announces Salary Adjustments for Probation and Parole Staff

NASHVILLE – Effective July 1, 2021, the Tennessee Department of Correction’s Probation and Parole Officers will receive long-awaited salary adjustments, Commissioner Parker announced Tuesday.

According to a press release, the adjustments will significantly increase the starting salaries for new PPOs. In addition, funding is allocated to ensure all Probation and Parole series staff members receive at least a 7.5 percent increase to their current salary.

“Our Probation/Parole staff supervise more than 70,000 people in our communities,” TDOC Commissioner Tony Parker said Tuesday in a memo to staff. “Each day, they carry out our mission of effective community supervision by ensuring those under our correctional control are compliant with following directives. These raises are worthy of the work they do each day to make Tennessee a safer place to live and raise a family.”

These proposed raises for Probation and Parole were expected to immediately follow the 2019 salary adjustments for TDOC’s Correctional Officer Security Series and Correctional Counselor Series and were even announced in 2019 by Gov. Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed approval until this year. 

In 2019, Commissioner Parker promised Probation and Parole officers he would continue to ask for adjustments in future budgets and worked with his TDOC team to self-fund $1,500 bonuses for Probation and Parole officers to show the department’s commitment to PPO’s.

“Tuesday’s news from the Department of Correction is great news for the hard-working state employees who make up the Probation and Parole series staff,” TSEA Executive Director Randy Stamps said. “We appreciate Commissioner Parker, the members of the General Assembly, and Gov. Bill Lee for keeping their promise to these state employees.”

In late April, Commissioner Parker announced a new bonus structure for employees in its Correctional Security Series as another component in TDOC’s recruitment and retention initiative. Details about that plan are available on the TSEA website here: http://tseaonline.org/tdoc-launches-bonus-structure-for-correctional-security-series-employees/