COLUMBIA, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – Nearly 50 people are now without jobs after layoffs within the South Carolina Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (BHDD).
A total of 248 administrative positions were eliminated on June 30. Of those, spokesperson Beth Moore said 47 were filled and 201 were vacant.
“The goal is to maximize efficiency and strengthen BHDD without disrupting services to the people who depend on the agency,” Moore said. “The direct care workforce who deliver services were not part of this action. BHDD remains fully committed to providing uninterrupted access to and delivery of services.”
BHDD is a relatively new agency, created when the General Assembly passed — and Gov. Henry McMaster signed — Act 3 last year, merging the Department of Mental Health, Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, and Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services into a single department.
The layoffs were authorized under two separate pieces of legislation: Act 3 itself, which requires the BHDD director to consolidate administrative services across the merged offices, and Proviso 93.23 of the state’s FY2026 budget, which directed the Department of Administration to analyze the agency’s structure and carry out any reorganization — including reductions in force — it deemed necessary.
Still, those impacted by the layoffs say they had no clue it was coming.
Anna Montanucci, who worked as an administrative specialist for more than two years serving Anderson, Pickens and Oconee Counties, said she was “incredibly blindsided” when she was called while out of town on vacation and told she no longer had a job with BHDD.
FOX Carolina News is continuing to follow this story.
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