WORKFORCE REDUCTION SECTION 1 Layoffs
(A) When employees are to be laid off, the state shall implement such layoff in the following manner:
(1) The competitive area within which layoffs will be affected shall be defined as statewide within the DHSMV.
(2) Layoff shall be by occupational level within the Florida Highway Patrol bargaining unit.
(3) An employee who has not attained permanent status in his current position may be laid off without applying the provision for retention rights.
(4) No employee with permanent status in his current position shall be laid off while an employee who does not hold permanent status in his current position is serving in that broadband level unless the permanent employee does not elect to exercise his retention rights or does not meet the selective competition criteria.
(5) All employees who have permanent status in their current position shall be ranked on a layoff list based on the total retention points derived as follows:
(a) Length of service retention points shall be based on one point for each month of continuous service in a Career Service position.
1. An employee who resigns from one Career Service position to accept employment in another Career Service position is not considered to have a break in service.
2. An employee who has been laid off and is reemployed within one year from the date of the layoff, shall not be considered to have a break in service.
3. Moving from Career Service to Selected Exempt Service or Senior Management Service and back to Career Service does not constitute a break in service unless the employee’s break in service is more than 31 calendar days. Only time spent in the Career Service can be counted in calculating retention points.
(b) Retention points deducted for performance not meeting performance standards or work expectations defined for the position shall be based on the five years immediately prior to the DHSMV’s established cutoff date. Five points shall be deducted for each month an employee has a rating below performance expectations.
(6) The layoff list shall be prepared by totaling retention points. Employees eligible for veterans’ preference pursuant to section 295.07(1)(a) or (b), F.S., shall have fifteen percent added to their total retention points, those eligible pursuant to section 295.07(1)(c), (d), or (e), F.S., shall have ten percent added to their total retention points, and those eligible pursuant to section 295.071(1)(f), or (g), F.S., shall have five percent added to their total retention points.
(7) The employee with the highest total retention points is placed at the top of the list, and the employee with the lowest retention points is placed at the bottom of the list.
(8) The employee at the top of the list shall bump the employee at the bottom of the list. The next highest employee on the list and the remaining employees shall be handled in the same manner until the total number of filled positions in the broadband level to be abolished is complete.
(9) Should two or more employees have the same combined total of retention points, the order of layoff shall be determined by giving preference for retention in the following sequence:
(a) The employee with the longest service in the affected broadband level.
(b) The employee with the longest continuous service in the Career Service.
(c) The employee who is entitled to veterans’ preference pursuant to section 295.07(1), F.S.
(10) An employee who has permanent status in his current position and is to be laid off shall be given at least 14 calendar days’ notice of such layoff or two weeks’ pay or a combination of days of notice and pay. Any payment will be made at the employee’s current hourly base rate of pay. The notice of layoff shall be in writing and sent to the employee by certified mail, return receipt requested. Within seven calendar days after receiving the notice of layoff, the employee shall have the right to request, in writing, a reassignment, lateral action, or demotion within the competitive area in lieu of layoff to a position in a broadband level within the bargaining unit in which the employee held permanent status, or to a position at the level of or below the current level in the bargaining unit, in which the employee held permanent status. Such request must be in writing and reassignment or demotion cannot be effected to a higher broadband level.
(11) An employee’s request for reassignment, lateral action, or demotion shall be granted unless it would cause the layoff of another employee who possesses a greater total of retention points.
(12) An employee adversely affected as a result of another employee having a greater number of retention points shall have the same right of reassignment, lateral action, or demotion under the procedure as provided in this section.
(13) If an employee requests a reassignment, lateral action, or demotion in lieu of layoff, the same formula and criteria for establishing retention points shall be used as prescribed in this section.
(B) If there is to be a layoff of employees the state shall take all reasonable steps to place any adversely affected employees in existing vacancies for which they are qualified.
(C) If work performed by employees in this unit is to be performed by non-state employees, the state agrees to encourage the employing entity to consider any adversely affected unit employees for employment in its organization if the state has been unable to place the employees in other positions within the Career Service System.
Staff Reduction 14.01 In the event of a layoff, the Employer shall give the employee(s) affected the required notice under the Employment Standards Act and will give as much additional notice to the Union that is reasonably possible in all of the circumstances.
14.02 Part-time and probationary employees shall be laid off first provided there are sufficient qualified employees with seniority who are able to do the required work. In the event there is a requirement for further reductions in staff, employees shall be laid off in inverse order of company seniority, provided the remaining employees are qualified and able to perform the required work. An employee whose position is abolished or who is displaced shall be entitled to exercise his/her company seniority rights and displace the most junior employee in the bargaining unit, provided he/she is either qualified to do the required work or can be qualified with minimal training.
14.03 When an employee is laid off, the employee will immediately register his/her name with the Employer in order that he/she may be notified of any work available. Laid off employees will, if qualified and able to perform the required work, be returned to work in order of company seniority when staff covered by this Agreement is increased, or vacancies occur.
(a) An Employee who is unemployed at the time of a recall must report for duty within forty-eight (48) hours of being contracted unless the employee can provide a valid and satisfactory reason to the Employer for not doing so.
(b) An employee who is employed at the time of recall must report for duty or give a satisfactory reason to the Employer for not doing so within eight (8) days from the date of mailing the notification to report by registered mail to the employee’s last known address.
(c) It shall be the employee’s responsibility to keep the Employer notified of his/her current telephone number as well as his address so that they will be up to date at all times.
(d) In the event an employee does not report or provide a satisfactory reason for failing to do so under (a) or (b) above, the employee shall forfeit his/her seniority rights under this Agreement and his/her employment shall be deemed to be terminated.
PERSONNEL REDUCTION Section 1. In the case of a personnel reduction, probationary employees in the classification to be reduced shall be laid off first. Thereafter, the employee in the classification to be reduced with the least seniority shall be laid off first. Battalion Chiefs with the least seniority in the rank of Battalion Chief shall be reduced to the highest rank they previously held and are currently qualified for or may become qualified for within three (3) months or such extension of time as may be agreed to by the Fire Rescue Administrator and the Union President. For purposes of this Article, employees who have a needs improvement or unacceptable performance evaluation during the most recent annual evaluation may have their seniority reduced by one year. For purposes of this Article, assigned Paramedics shall be considered a classification only in order to prevent the number of Paramedics from being reduced below State requirements.
Section 2. Employees who are laid off from their classifications may bump into the next lower classification in which case they may bump the most junior employee in the classification if that junior employee has less seniority.
Section 3. Employees who are laid off, or who have bumped into the next lower classification, shall be recalled to their original classification in the reverse order in which they were laid off or bumped (last laid off or bumped, first recalled) provided they meet the requirements to perform the work. Employees on layoff or who have been bumped, shall be offered recall before employees are hired into their classification, or shall be offered a new position in another lateral or lower classification for which they are qualified before new employees are hired into the other classification.
Section 4. Employees who are laid off shall be paid one hundred (100%) percent of accrued vacation leave.
Section 5. In the case of a personnel reduction in the rank of District Chief, those District Chief(s) identified by the Fire Rescue Administrator who were promoted to that rank before July 14, 2000, and District Chiefs appointed to the rank as a result of municipal mergers, shall be reduced to the rank of Battalion Chief. Such reduction shall not adversely affect the wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment of any other bargaining unit employee.
Section 6. Employees promoted to the rank of District Chief after July 13, 2000, who are affected by a personnel reduction in the rank of District Chief, shall be reduced to the classification previously held, or another position for which they have successfully tested, in accordance with the provisions of this Article. No personnel in the classification to which the employee is returned shall be removed, and any over-staffing shall be addressed through attrition. District Chiefs may sit for promotional examinations for positions of lower rank within the bargaining unit and will be considered to have obtained that status upon successful promotion of any employee with a lesser standing on that promotion register.
Section 7. The protection afforded to other bargaining unit employees in sections 5 and 6 above, shall not apply in the event of a workforce reduction that affects all ranks.