After firing hundreds, Arizona DES director forced to resign

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(This story first reported by AZ Captiol Times on 11/23/1/6)

Department of Economic Security Director Tim Jeffries was forced to resign today amid reports that he’s fired hundreds of state workers and used a state plane to fly to Nogales to celebrate with employees who gave up their job protections.

The Arizona Republic first reported that Jeffries was forced to resign at 11 a.m. following a meeting with Gov. Doug Ducey’s chief of staff, general counsel, and the state’s human resources director.

Five other DES employees were fired as well, and Jeffries was escorted from the building – a tactic Jeffries himself had employed during his 21 months as agency head when firing employees, or as he called it, “same-day exits.”

Jeffries could not be reached for comment.

His ouster comes just two days after Ducey said he was “disappointed” by the news he’d been hearing out of DES and that his confidence in Jeffries had been “shaken.”