Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 49, December 7, 2024
Section 604a.5 - Furlough(a)Reasons. Furloughs shall occur only because of a lack of funds or a lack of work.(b)Furlough units. Furloughs will be conducted within approved furlough units. For purposes of this section, a furlough unit shall be defined as all employees in the job classification within an affected institution, division, office, bureau or a combination of the institutions, divisions, offices, or bureaus within an appointing authority. Each appointing authority will submit recommended furlough units to the Office of Administration. Once approved by the Office of Administration, the furlough units will be used for subsequent furloughs. Changes to approved furlough units shall be submitted to and approved by the Office of Administration prior to use in subsequent furloughs.(c)Provisional employees, temporary employees and emergency employees. An appointing authority shall remove all emergency employees, temporary employees and provisional employees within the designated furlough unit before furloughing a probationary employee or regular employee in the designated furlough unit.(d)Order of furlough. Furloughs shall occur in the following order: (1)Probationary employees. An appointing authority will not furlough a regular employee while a probationary employee is employed in the designated furlough unit. An appointing authority shall furlough probationary employees in the inverse order of seniority. Seniority for this purpose shall be the length of continuous service in the classified service if there has been no break in service.(2)Regular employees. When it is necessary to furlough regular employees in a designated furlough unit, the last annual or probationary performance evaluations, as applicable, of the regular employees in the furlough shall be converted to categories or relative ranks. The regular employees will be placed into quarters, and those in the lowest quarter will be furloughed or returned under subsection (e), in the inverse order of seniority. Seniority for this purpose shall be the length of continuous service in the classified service if there has been no break in service.(e)Rights before furlough. Upon notification of furlough, and until the effective date of it, a regular employee to be furloughed shall have a right of return to vacant positions in the appointing authority in any job classification and status previously held, or to any job classification and status in the same or lower job classification, if the employee meets the minimum qualifications and provided the appointing authority is filling the vacancy. A probationary employee will be returned to the job classification previously held if the probationary status resulted from promotion.(f)Mandatory reemployment after furlough. A furloughed employee who is unable to exercise their right of return under subsection (e) will be given a mandatory 1-year preference for reemployment in the same job classification and appointing authority from which they were furloughed. The preference does not apply to vacancies that an employee on leave of absence has priority of return, or to a filled position which has been reclassified to a higher-level job classification after the effective date of furlough.(g)Optional reemployment after furlough. A furloughed employee who is unable to exercise their right of return under subsection (e) will, for 1 year, be placed on optional reemployment lists for the job classification from which furloughed and for equal and lower-level job classifications for which they are qualified, for certification to all appointing authorities.(h)Reemployment certification. The following requirements apply to certifications of reemployment lists of furloughed employees: (1) A certification from a mandatory reemployment list shall preclude issuance of a certification otherwise applicable to available vacancies except for a certification from a preferred reemployment list, which shall take precedence over all other eligible lists. Certification from optional reemployment lists shall be considered equally with all other employment or promotion certifications issued for available vacancies.(2) Furloughed employees shall be certified from mandatory reemployment lists according to their stated availabilities. The appointing authority will give reemployment preference to those on mandatory reemployment lists with higher overall performance evaluations. In cases of identical performance evaluations, furloughed employees with greater continuous classified service seniority will have reemployment preference.(3) Furloughed employees shall be certified from optional reemployment lists according to their stated availabilities. The appointing authority may select any furloughed employee from the optional reemployment list, in accordance with merit principles.(i)Refusal of reemployment from mandatory reemployment list. A furloughed employee who refuses reemployment from a mandatory reemployment list in a county other than the county from which they were furloughed, shall retain mandatory reemployment rights solely to the county from which they were furloughed. Furloughed employees who accept or refuse mandatory reemployment in the county from which they were furloughed shall lose all mandatory and optional reemployment rights and consideration.(j)Refusal of reemployment from optional reemployment list. A furloughed employee who refuses appointment from an optional reemployment list in the same job title from which they were furloughed or in a job title with the same pay grade as the job title from which they were furloughed shall forfeit all optional reemployment preference, but shall retain mandatory preference for reemployment. A furloughed employee who refuses appointment from an optional reemployment list in a job title with a pay grade lower than the job title from which they were furloughed shall retain reemployment preference for job titles with pay grades higher than the job title to which reemployment is offered and equal to the job title from which they were furloughed. Reemployment preference is forfeited for all job titles with pay grades equal to and lower than the job title to which reemployment is offered. If preferences subsequently are not, or cannot be, exercised, the furloughed employee shall be considered as having voluntarily resigned as of the furlough effective date.(k)Labor agreements. If there is a labor agreement covering the employees to be furloughed, the terms of the agreement as to furlough and reemployment procedures shall be controlling. This section cited in 4 Pa. Code § 601a.3 (relating to definitions); and 4 Pa. Code § 602a.2 (relating to recruitment methods).