January 18, 2014 by The Sumter Item

LOCAL / STATE

THE ITEM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2014

Ex-DEW employee sues agency director after data breach mation was part of her job and generally shouldn’t be considered a breach. Paul accuses director Cheryl Stanton of mounting a months-long campaign to make her leave because other employees viewed her as the agency’s informal leader. In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Friday, agency officials said the lawsuit had no merit. “This is nothing more than a disgruntled former employee who was fired for violating agency policy regarding the handling of personal identification information,” said Darrell T. Scott, DEW’s chief of staff. Paul’s lawsuit was filed Wednesday, the same day DEW began notifying more than 4,600 people that their information may have been compromised. Without identifying Paul at the time, agency officials said an employee had been suspended Dec. 19, a day after security software detected an unauthorized download from human resources files.

BY MEG KINNARD Associated Press Writer COLUMBIA — A former employee of South Carolina’s unemployment agency says in a lawsuit filed this week that the department’s director fabricated allegations that she improperly downloaded personal information to force her out. Kerry Paul was fired Tuesday from her post as human resources director at the Department of Employment and Workforce, or DEW. Agency officials said she downloaded personal data of thousands of current and former employees and their children and beneficiaries onto a personal flash drive. She wasn’t accused of downloading information from businesses or anyone receiving unemployment benefits. In a complaint filed this week in Richland County, Paul denies downloading the employee information on the day security software detected such a download but also says that handling the infor-

STATE BRIEFS

From Associated Press reports

Teen births drop in South Carolina

Citi laying off hundreds in Fort Mill

COLUMBIA — An advocacy group reported the teen birth rate in South Carolina has dropped 47 percent in 20 years. The South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy said the teen birth rate is at an all-time low. The campaign said the teen birth rate dropped 7 percent between 2011 and 2012. There were about 36 births for every 1,000 teen girls in 2012. Executive Director Forrest Alton said Thursday the decline represents 21,000 fewer teen births in the past 20 years. Alton said South Carolina still has the 11th-highest rate in the nation. Nineteen of the state’s 46 counties had increases in the teen birth rate in 2012, compared with 2011.

FORT MILL — Citi is closing a unit at its Fort Mill operation, eliminating hundreds of jobs. The financial company is closing its default mortgage service unit, which could affect up to half of its approximately 850 employees in the Fort Mill area, The Herald of Rock Hill reported. Citi public affairs director Mark Rodgers said about 200 workers will be laid off during the first quarter of this year. Affected employees were told this week, the same time it was announced that Citi had sold its mortgage servicing rights for about 64,000 Fannie Mae residential mortgage loans, with an outstanding balance of about $10 billion.

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Region 1 Manager Sam Mumford, Sumter Office Manager Mary Peoples, Sumter Office Assistant Manager Natalie “Christy” Hendrix and Executive Director Kevin Shwedo are seen recently. Hendrix was named the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Employee of the Year for Field Region 1.

Sumter woman wins DMV award BY TYLER SIMPSON tyler@theitem.com A Sumter resident was named the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Employee of the Year for Field Region 1 at the annual employee Awards Ceremony held at the department’s headquarters in Blythewood on Monday. Natalie “Christy” Hendrix, assistant manager of the Sumter DMV, was one of four office employees awarded for their respective regions in the state. She was nominated for the

award by regional manager Sam Mumford, who said that her busy office was never over the 20 minutes wait-time standard for more than 365 days despite it being frequently short staffed. “The Sumter DMV is one of the top 15 offices in the state for transactions,” said Mumford. “Christy always let me know when the office was short staffed but not to worry because they could handle it. With her guidance and leadership, they never failed to provide excellent service.”

DMV executive director Kevin Shwedo said he considers Hendrix, as well as the other award winners, to be role models for the agency. “These employees are the embodiment of our agency’s values — competent, committed and courteous,” said Shwedo. “They represent our agency in the best possible manner, serving as role models to their co-workers and as positive examples of selfless public servants to their community.” Reach Tyler Simpson at (803) 774-1295.

ETV Radio adds live, classical program FROM STAFF REPORTS COLUMBIA — ETV Radio has added a live classical music program to its classical stations at 11 a.m. weekdays. The show, Classical Music with Jude Fox, is broadcast from the Wells Fargo studio at ETV Radio. Each weekday, host Fox brings listeners a sampling of the entire spectrum of classical music. She will be able to take requests for the program via e-mail at jfox@ scetv.org. Fox discovered her love of music in high school when she joined the chorus. “I loved it so much I decided to study music at the University of South Carolina,”

she said. “It was there that I learned music theory and music history. My favorite composers are Handel, Mendelssohn and Mozart, and while I hope to put some of my top picks in, it will be exciting to hear audience requests.” Fox also hosts and produces the choral music series Voices in Harmony, which airs at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on ETV Radio’s classical stations. Learn more about ETV Radio and stream programs online by visiting etvradio.org. ETV Radio classical stations are: WSCIFM 89.3/Charleston; WEPR-FM 90.1/ Greenville; and WLTR-FM 91.3/Columbia.

Our improved Sumter Item Is coming Tuesday, January 28th! We’re building a better newspaper to better serve our readers and advertisers!

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