LAYOFF (STAFF EMPLOYEES)	No. 3-10b	Rev. 10/6/87
		Date 4-8-86

I. REFERENCES

PPM 3-10, Termination of Employment

State Board of Regents Policy R843, Guidelines for Reduction in Force

II. DEFINITIONS

A. Layoff

Termination caused by reduction in force due to lack of funds, elimination or reduction of funding from outside agencies, lack of work or other compelling reasons. Layoff is not a disciplinary action.

B. Seniority (Senior)

Refers to the number of years as a salaried employee at Weber State University in the most recent period of service. Prior periods of employment interrupted by termination of employment will not be considered. Seniority is not restricted to time served within the unit or department.

C. Organizational Unit

A major subdivision, normally a department. Where two or more departments are being merged into one, organizational unit refers to the combination of departments that will be merged.

D. Staff Employees

Classified and professional/administrative employees who are salaried and without faculty appointment.

E. Hourly and Probationary Employees

Employees who are still in the probationary period or are paid on an hourly basis.

III. POLICY

A. With the approval of the supervising vice president and following review of the suggested layoff by the director of Human Resources, supervisors are authorized to reduce the work force for any of the reasons in II, A above.

B. The director of Human Resources shall review the reallocation of duties and responsibilities of the remaining position(s) to ascertain whether a job audit is appropriate.

C. The order in which employees are placed on layoff status is determined according to the following criteria:

1. The least senior employee is as defined in II, B above in a given job classification and within the organizational unit will be the first to be placed in layoff status unless another employee in that classification and within the organizational unit volunteers for the layoff. Hourly and probationary employees working in the same organizational unit and performing essentially the same duties will be released before salaried/permanent employees. Hourly employees are not covered by other provisions of this policy.

2. Employees remaining after the reduction in force must have the necessary skills and capabilities to accomplish the duties of the remaining positions. If the tasks to be performed in a remaining position are such that the remaining employee may be perceived to have difficulty in performing them in a satisfactory manner, the supervising vice president shall consider approving the following:

a. Allow the employee to complete short-term training to acquire necessary skills.

b. Allow the employee a probationary period of 90 days to assume all duties and responsibilities and attempt to perform at a satisfactory level. At the end of the probationary period, if it can be demonstrated by the supervisor(s) to the supervising vice president that the performance is sub-standard, the employee may be placed in layoff status and another employee recalled to the position in reverse order of the layoff.

3. Retraining as described in III, C, 2 above will be considered only if the period of layoff will extend for a reasonable time beyond the retraining period.

4. Employees placed in layoff status will be given two weeks' notice of such action. If the required advance notice is not given, or is given for a shorter period than two weeks, severance pay will be given in lieu of notice at the regular pay rate.

5. Employees placed in layoff status are not allowed to "bump" other employees in other organizational units with less seniority. Transfer to a vacant position elsewhere on campus should be favorably considered by the supervising vice president.

6. Recall from layoff status will occur in reverse order of layoff. Recall is required only if a position for which the employee is qualified occurs within six months and if the position occurs within the organizational unit from which the employee was released. Application and subsequent selection for a position in another department on campus is not considered recall, but securing another job at Weber State University within six months of layoff will allow the employee to retain prior service credit.

7. Employees in layoff status do not receive payment or benefits from the University.

8. In cases where funding may not be available beyond the layoff date to pay for accumulated vacation, supervisors are authorized to require employees who are to be placed in layoff status or for whom there is a high likelihood of layoff to take accrued vacation before the layoff occurs.