STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF STATE CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
General Circular
No. 001531
To: Heads of State Agencies and
Human Resource Directors
Subject: Proposed
Amendments to Rules 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10, 1.11, 1.27, 6.16.3, 8.2.1 and the
Adoption of Proposed Rule 6.8.1
Issue Date: June 11, 2003
The
State Civil Service Commission will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, August
6, 2003 to consider proposed amendments to Rules 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10, 1.11,
1.27, 6.16.3 and 8.2.1 and the adoption of Rule 6.8.1.
The
hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will be held in the auditorium of the
Claiborne Building, 1201 Third Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Consideration
will be given to the following:
Amend Rule
6.6 Market Grade Adjustment
(a) When the pay
range for the grade to which a job is currently assigned is either not
sufficient to compete with prevailing market conditions, or is found to exceed
prevailing market rates, the Director may, in accordance with Rules 6.1 and
3.1(n), authorize the assignment of the job to a grade with a more appropriate
pay range. The individual pay rate of employees occupying jobs which are
affected shall be set in accordance with Rule 6.8.1.
(b) Repealed, as
of December 4, 1989.
We are proposing
that the rate of pay upon a Market Grade Adjustment be governed by the proposed
new Rule 6.8.1. This change would
negate the pay change upon an upward adjustment. When the pay grade of a job is moved upward by a Market Grade
Adjustment, the employee would have the benefit of a higher range maximum. Also, if recruiting, retention, and market
pay problems are severe enough to warrant a Market Grade Adjustment, the agency
should use Special Entrance Rates of pay.
The implementation of Special Entrance Rates in combination with the
higher range maximum from the Market Grade Adjustment will allow agencies to
give salary adjustments to employees.
It should also
be noted that by no longer giving mandated salary increases for Market Grade
Adjustments, Civil Service and the agencies will have more freedom to react to
changing market conditions.
(a) No change.
(b) No change.
(c) No change.
(d) When an
employee has been detailed with pay to a higher job and is promoted to that
same job or a job at the same pay level or a higher pay level directly from the
detail, his pay eligibility on promotion shall not be less than he received on
detail.
(e) Subject to
the provisions of subsection (f) of this rule, when an employee is promoted
from a job assigned to one pay schedule to a job with a higher range maximum in
another pay schedule, his pay shall be adjusted as follows:
1. If the
maximum of the job to which he is being promoted is less than 14% above his
current maximum, his pay shall be increased by 7%.
2. If the
maximum of the job to which he is being promoted is at least 14% but less than
21% above his current maximum, his pay shall be increased at least by 7% but
not to exceed 10.5%.
3. If the
maximum of the job to which he is being promoted is equal to or greater than
21% above his current maximum, his pay shall be increased by at least 7% but
not to exceed 14%.
(f) No change.
The current
6.7(d) only allows an employee to retain their detail pay when they are
directly promoted from the detail job into the same job title. The change will allow an employee to keep
their detail pay if they are directly promoted to a job that is at the same pay
level or a higher pay level. We have
had a limited number of cases where the implementation of a job study or
reorganization has resulted in an employee losing pay upon a promotion due to
the current detail rule.
The change to
6.7(e) will change the determination of promotion from the minimum of the job
to the maximum of the job. The maximum
of the job is a truer reflection of the worth of the job than is the range
minimum.
Amend Rule 6.8 Pay Upon Reallocation
When the
Director changes the allocation of a position from one job to another by
reallocation,
(a) If the job
to which the position is allocated is in a higher grade in the same schedule or
is in a grade with a higher maximum in another schedule, the affected employee's
pay shall be set in accordance with Rule 6.7.
(b) Subject to
the provisions of subsection (d) of this rule, if the job to which the position
is allocated is in a lower grade in the same schedule or is in a grade with a
lower maximum in another schedule, the affected employee's pay will not change,
but shall be subject to provisions of Rule 6.15.
(c) Subject to
the provisions of subsection (d) of this rule, if the job to which the position
is allocated is in the same grade in the same schedule or is in a grade with
the same maximum in another schedule, the employee's pay shall not change.
(d) If the
position is reallocated in such a way that the current base supplement rate of
pay authorized for the position is lost or reduced, the affected employee's pay
shall be set no higher than his current salary and at the higher of the
following:
1. the range
maximum (this is a red circle rate) of the position from which he is being
reallocated, or
2. within the
range maximum plus the base supplement (this is not a red circle rate)
authorized for the position to which he is to being reallocated.
This change removes all references to job corrections and grade
assignments. Job corrections and grade
assignments will now be governed by the new Rule 6.8.1 (see below).
When the
Director assigns a job to a different grade or changes the allocation of a
position from one job to another by job correction,
(a) If the job
to which the position is job corrected is in a higher grade in the same pay
schedule or is in a grade with a higher range maximum in another pay schedule,
or if the job is assigned to a higher grade in the same pay schedule or to a
grade with a higher range maximum in another schedule, the affected employee's
pay shall not change. An employee shall
not be paid below the minimum of the higher range.
b) Subject to
the provisions of subsection (d) of this rule, if the job to which the position
is job corrected is in a lower grade in the same pay schedule or is in a grade
with a lower range maximum in another pay schedule, or if the job is assigned
to a lower grade in the same pay schedule or to a grade with a lower range
maximum in another schedule, the affected employee's pay shall not change, but
shall be subject to provisions of Rule 6.15.
(c) Subject to
the provisions of subsection (d) of this rule, if the job to which the position
is job corrected is in the same grade in the same pay schedule or is in a grade
with the same range maximum in another pay schedule, or if the job is assigned
to the same grade in the same pay schedule or to a grade with the same range
maximum in another schedule, the affected employee's pay shall not change
(d) If the
position is job corrected or if a job has a pay range change in such a way that
the current base supplement rate of pay authorized for the position is lost or
reduced, the affected employee's pay shall be set no higher than his current
salary and at the higher of the following:
1. the range
maximum (this is a red circle rate) of the position from which he is being
changed, or
2. within the
range maximum plus the base supplement (this is not a red circle rate)
authorized for the position to which he is to be changed.
This rule change
removes the pay change associated with job re-evaluations (grade assignment),
market grade adjustments and job corrections when the pay grade is moved
up. There are no changes to the rule
regarding lateral or downward movements.
In most cases job studies are the result of either organizational
changes, market changes or are requested based upon the grade movements of
related jobs. In those cases, the
duties of the employee have not changed.
Subject to the
provisions of Civil Service Rules 6.15 and 17.11(a) and (b) 2, when an employee
is demoted for any reason under any circumstances, his pay shall be reduced as
follows:
(a) If the
demotion is to a job within the same schedule or to a job in another schedule
with a lower maximum his pay shall be reduced by a minimum of 7% and may be set
at a lower rate in the range provided that it is no less than the minimum.
(b) Repeal.
(c) Repeal.
(d) Subject to the provisions of Rule 6.29, an appointing authority may grant
exceptions to this rule for voluntary demotions. Exceptions shall not by
granted by the appointing authority in an arbitrary or fraudulent manner
designed to increase an employee’s rate of pay. An appointing authority may, as part of a formal written policy,
waive a pay increase on promotion for an employee who has been demoted without
a decrease in pay within a six-month period.
The changes to
(a), (b), and (c) of this rule are necessitated by the change to multiple pay
schedules. It is no longer necessary to
mandate a larger pay cut when moving from one pay schedule to another. The change to (d) allows agencies to not pay
for a promotion for an employee who has recently demoted without a pay cut.
Amend Rule
1.11 Demotion
‘Demotion’ means a change of a permanent or
probationary employee from a position in one job to a position in another job
which is assigned to a pay grade with a lower maximum.
Explanation
The change to
this definition is necessary in due to the change in Rule 6.10.
Amend Rule
1.27 Promotion