A restructuring is at hand for the Kansas Department of Labor as it continues responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Labor Department announced three new directors and several transitions into new roles. Among them:
*Peter Brady takes over a new Deputy Secretary position and will oversee Communications, Government Affairs, Fiscal and Unemployment Insurance Administration and Benefits
*Brett Flachsbarth continues in his Deputy Secretary role but now will oversee Human Resources, Industrial Safety and Health, Information Technology, Labor Market Information Services, Legal and Workers Compensation teams. He will also oversee modernization efforts.
*Jerry Grasso comes on board as Communications Director.
*Julie Menghini, who had served as Communications and Legislative Director, is now Director of Government Affairs.
*Bill Periman comes on board as Chief Information Technology Officer.
*Laurel Searles, who had served as the agency’s Unemployment Insurance Director, fills a new role as Director of Unemployment Administration.
*Amy Selm becomes the Labor Department’s Director of Unemployment Benefits, overseeing a new department.
*Allen Vinyard is promoted to Director of Industrial Safety and Health.
Since March 15, the Labor Department has paid out over two million weekly claims approaching $2 billion between regular unemployment and federal pandemic programs. However, a recent study by the personal finance website WalletHub says Kansas has the slowest recovery of weekly unemployment claims in the country, including the District of Columbia, since New Year’s Day. Since the pandemic started, Kansas ranks 24th.
