§ A367-26. Layoff of competitive class employees., Chapter A367. Municipal Civil Service Commission Rules and Regulations, Appendix, Code of Ordinances, New Rochelle

For the purpose of this rule, the following terms shall mean:

DIRECT LINE OF PROMOTION: Shall be strictly construed in that, in order to be considered as "direct line," all titles must have the same generic root.

LAYOFF UNIT: Each department of a county, city, town, village, each school district and each special district. Authorities and community colleges shall be deemed to be separate civil divisions.

NEXT LOWER OCCUPIED TITLE: The title in direct line of promotion immediately below the title from which the incumbent is suspended or demoted, unless no one is serving in that title in that layoff unit, in which case it shall be the closest lower title in direct line of promotion in that layoff unit in which one or more persons do serve.

PERMANENT SERVICE

(1)

"Permanent service" shall start on that date of the incumbent's original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service; however, in the case of disabled veterans, the date of original permanent appointment is considered to be 60 months earlier than the actual date; while nondisabled veterans are considered to have been appointed 30 months earlier than their actual date of appointment. For the purposes of this rule, the definition of what constitutes a veteran or disabled veteran is contained in § 85 of the Civil Service Law.

(2)

A resignation followed by a reinstatement or reappointment more than one year subsequent to the resignation constitutes a break in service. The original appointment date is to be determined from the date of reemployment; the prior service would not count.

(3)

Temporary or provisional service preceding the original permanent appointment does not count. However, temporary or provisional employment immediately preceded and followed by permanent classified service employment does not interrupt continuous service.

(4)

The "permanent service" of any employee who was transferred from another civil division shall start on the date of his original permanent appointment in the classified service in the other civil division.

(5)

If an employee was covered-in to a classified position upon acquisition by a civil division of an agency in which he was employed, his seniority begins on the effective date of the cover-in. As between that employee and others covered-in on the same date, they shall have the seniority held by them as among themselves in the agency before the cover-in.

SATISFACTORY SERVICE: Service by an employee during which he did not receive an unsatisfactory performance rating and was not found guilty of misconduct or incompetency pursuant to § 75 of the Civil Service law which resulted in the imposition of any of the following penalties upon such employee:

Suspension.

(1)

When an occupied position in the competitive class is abolished, suspension is to be made from among those employees holding the same title in the same layoff unit as the abolished position.

(2)

Among permanent employees, the order of suspension is the inverse of the order of their original permanent appointments in the classified service. See above definition of "permanent service" for veterans and disabled veterans. An exception to this rule is that the blind have absolute retention rights, but only in their job status. A blind person may not back-date his permanent service if he also happens to be either a veteran or disabled veteran. A person is considered blind if he is so certified by the Commission for the Visually Handicapped of the New York State Social Services Department.

(3)

When two or more permanent incumbents of positions in a specific title are suspended, demoted or displaced at the same time, the order in which they shall be entitled to displace shall be determined by their respective retention standing, with those having the greater retention standing entitled to displace first.

(4)

When several employees were originally appointed on a permanent basis on the same day, their retention rights shall be determined by their rank on the eligible list from which they were appointed; that person having the highest rank having greater retention rights over those having lower ranks.

(5)

All temporary, provisional and contingent permanent employees occupying these positions must be let go before any permanent employee is suspended from such positions.

(6)

Probationary employees occupying such positions in the same title must also be suspended before any permanent employee in the layoff unit in that title who has completed his probationary period. Probationary employees do, however, have superior retention rights to those of contingent permanent, temporary and provisional employees.

(7)

The order of suspension among probationary employees shall follow the same principles as that among permanent employees.

Vertical bumping.

(1)

Vertical bumping occurs when an employee in a specific title to which there is a direct line of promotion, who is himself suspended or displaced, displaces an employee in the next lower occupied title in direct line of promotion in the same layoff unit having the least seniority if the employee who seeks to displace has greater retention standing.

(2)

Where the layoff involved more than one position in a title, the order of displacement will be the inverse of the order of suspension. That is, the most senior of the suspended employees will be the first to displace. This shall apply to both vertical bumping and retreat.

(3)

If an employee refuses to displace a junior incumbent, he must be laid off. This, however, does not protect the junior incumbent from being compared in retention standing with other incumbents if other positions at the higher level are being abolished.

(4)

When a next lower title has been occupied by means of displacement, regardless of when the displacement into the title has occurred, it is considered to be occupied for further displacement purposes; however a next lower title which has all of its positions abolished at the same time as positions are abolished at the higher level cannot be considered as occupied. A title which is occupied by an incumbent, temporary, provisional, contingent permanent, probationary or permanent is considered occupied for the purposes of this section.

Retreat.

(1)

Retreat occurs when and only when there is no lower occupied position in direct line of promotion at any level.

(2)

An employee may retreat by displacing the incumbent with the least retention right who is serving in a position in the title in which the displacing incumbent last served on a permanent basis prior to service in the title from which he is currently suspended or displaced. Retreat may only occur where the position in the title formerly held by the displacing incumbent is occupied in the competitive class, in the same layoff unit and at a lower salary grade; the service of the displacing incumbent while in the former title must have been satisfactory, and the junior incumbent must have less retention standing than the displacing incumbent.

(3)

The service of the displacing incumbent in the title to which he is retreating need not have been in the same layoff unit as the one from which he is displaced.

(4)

An employee may also displace by retreat to a position in a title he last served on a permanent basis although he had intervening service in other titles as long as his service in each of the intervening titles was on other than a permanent basis. He may also displace by retreat to a position which does not count in the computation of his continuous service.

(5)

Where a title change has been effected to better describe the duties of a position but the duties have not substantially changed since the suspended employee last served in that title, the new title will, for retreat purposes, be deemed to be the former title.

An employee who refuses to accept an appointment afforded by displacement for whatever reason waives all rights regarding the displacement; however, this employee's name will be entered on an appropriate preferred list.

Preferred list standing for competitive class employees on and after October 1, 1972, shall be as follows:

(1)

On and after October 1, 1972, those employees whose positions were abolished prior to that date and who therefore had their standing on the preferred list determined by the date of their original appointment on a permanent basis in the competitive class shall retain among themselves such preferred list standing, including the preferences to which they were entitled as blind, disabled veterans and nondisabled veterans.

(2)

Blind employees whose positions are abolished on or after October 1, 1972, shall have their preferred list standing determined by the date of their original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service, whether or not they are also disabled veterans or nondisabled veterans; provided, however, that the blind shall be granted absolute preference on the preferred list over all other employees except those disabled veterans and blind employees whose positions were abolished prior to October 1, 1972, with whose names theirs shall be interfiled.

(3)

Disabled veterans whose positions are abolished on or after October 1, 1972, shall have their preferred list standing determined by the date of their original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service; provided, however, that the date of such original appointment shall be deemed to be 60 months earlier than the actual date, determined in accordance with § 30 of the General Construction Law.

(4)

Nondisabled veterans whose positions are abolished on or after October 1, 1972, shall have their preferred list standing determined by the date of their original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service; provided, however, that the date of such original appointment shall be deemed to be 30 months earlier than the actual date, determined in accordance with § 30 of the General Construction Law.

(5)

Nonveterans whose positions are abolished on or after October 1, 1972, shall have their preferred list standing determined by the date of their original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service.

(6)

The names of all persons encompassed by Subsection F(3), (4) and (5) above whose positions are abolished on or after October 1, 1972, shall be interfiled on the preferred list with the names of all nonveterans whose positions were abolished prior to October 1, 1972.

An appointing authority may take such steps as it may deem necessary in order to secure binding written commitments in advance of suspension, demotion or displacement from employees potentially affected by such suspension, demotion or displacement as to their willingness to accept reassignment or displacement.