18- 389 C.M.R. ch. 1, § 3

Current through 2024-51, December 18, 2024

Section 389-1-3 - DEFINITION OF TERMS

The following words and terms wherever used in these rules shall have the meaning indicated below:

A. "Agency" means a department, division, board, institution, or other branch of the State Service, in which all positions are under the same appointing authority.

B. "Allocate" means the assignment of a position to a class in the classification schedule as established or amended.

C. "Appointing Authority" means a person or group of persons empowered by the constitution, by statute, or by lawfully delegated authority to make appointments to positions in the State Service.

D. "Class" (also classification) means a group of positions so sufficiently alike with respect to duties, responsibilities and authority that the same descriptive title may be used with clarity to designate each such position; the same knowledges, skills, and abilities applied, the same process used to recruit, qualify and examine persons for each such position; and the same schedule of pay applied with equity to each such position.

E. "Classification Plan" means a system of identifying and describing the different kinds and levels of work which comprise State Service whereby significantly similar positions are grouped under a common class title and pay schedule.

F. "Classification Schedule" means the listing of unique classes and their designated pay ranges, and any amendment/adjustments thereto, resulting from application of the classification plan.

G. "Day" means calendar day of 8 hours except where otherwise specified in the specific rule.

H. "Demotion" means a change of an employee from a position in one class to a position in another class with less responsible duties and a lower salary range.

I. "Department" means the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Bureau of Human Resources, and the employees thereof.

J. "Eligible" means any person whose name is on an eligible register.

K. "Full-time Employee" means an employee normally expected to work at least the standard work week (40 hours) for the class and agency.

L. "Intermittent Employee" means an employee who is hired from time to time to work irregular hours or weeks. Note: See Chapter 2 for a more complete definition.

M. "Limited Period Position" is a position, as authorized by the State Budget Officer, of other than project nature which, because of budgetary limitations, has a time limit set at the time of establishment.

N. "Military Leave" means the leave of absence granted to employees entering active duty in the armed forces of the State or the United States.

O. "Organization Unit" means a geographic, organizational, or other unit of an agency which is approved by the Director of Human Resources as a unit for the purposes of employment or layoff, or both.

P. "Part-time Employee" means an employee working less than the standard work week for the class and agency, on regularly scheduled hours per week for the position.

Q. "Permanent Employee" means an employee who has been appointed to a position after successfully completing his probationary period.

R. "Position" means a group of current duties and responsibilities assigned or delegated by competent authority, requiring the full-time, part-time, or intermittent employment of one person.

S. "Position Management" means an objective and documented evaluation of the organizational and functional components of an agency or subsection thereof. Evaluation considerations include, but are not limited to: overlapping responsibilities, layers of supervision, duplication of effort and poor mix of senior, journeyman, and junior positions.

T. "Probationary Period" means a working test period during which a new employee is required to demonstrate fitness for the position to which appointed by actual performance of the duties of the position.

U. "Project Position" is a position which is restricted to a planned work program to be completed within a specified limited period of time and which is not of a seasonal or regularly recurring nature.

V. "Promotion" means a change of an employee from a position of one class to a position of another class with more responsible duties and a higher salary range.

W. "Reallocate" means to alter an allocation decision by changing the assignment of a position to one class and reassigning it to another class in the Classification Schedule as established or amended.

X. 'Regular Appointment" means an appointment of an employee without current civil service rights from an open competitive register or an appointment to the non-competitive or labor division.

Y. "Seasonal Position" means a position established for less than full year periods and expected to be of a regularly recurring nature.

Z. "Substitute Appointment" means an appointment to fill a vacancy created by an employee on leave of absence.

AA. "Temporary Appointment" means an appointment for a period not to exceed three (3) months.

BB. "Transfer" means a change by an employee from one position to another position of the same class or of another class in the same salary range, usually involving the performance of similar duties and requiring essentially the same basic qualifications.

18- 389 C.M.R. ch. 1, § 3