STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
CIVIL SERVICE
BATON ROUGE,
LOUISIANA
General Circular No. 001634
To: Heads
of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors
Subject: Layoff Implementation Guidelines
Issue Date: November
14, 2005
All state agencies are now in the unfortunate position of
having to deal with major budget reductions.
In many cases, these funding shortages will ultimately require agencies
to implement reductions in force.
We encourage all agencies to include their Human Resource
Directors in any discussions of budget reductions or reductions in force. Their expertise combined with the knowledge
gained in these discussions will help to ensure that the plans and
documentation they submit to the Department of Civil Service will meet the
agencies’ needs and intended purposes.
This circular is intended to provide you with the
information you need to conduct a layoff within the requirements of Civil
Service Rules in the most effective way possible.
The attachments to this circular will be posted on the HR
Directors’ web site as Word and Excel documents, for your convenience. They include:
Layoff Checklist – Procedural Guidelines for Implementing
Layoffs
Personnel Action Fiscal Impact Statement (Provided by the
Division of Administration)
Layoff Template 1 – Prior State Service Questionnaire
Layoff Template 2 – General Notice of Impending Layoff w/
C.S. Rule 17.13
Layoff Template 3 – Proposed Layoff Plan
Layoff Template 4 – Individual Notice of Pending Layoff or
Displacement
Layoff Templates 5 & 6 – Notice Memos for Probational
Employees
Layoff Templates 7 & 8 – Notice Memos for Permanent
Employees Without
Displacement Offers
Layoff Templates 9 & 10 - Notice Memos for Permanent
Employees With
Displacement Offers
Layoff Template 11 – Layoff Displacement Offer Form
Layoff Template 12 – Department Preferred Reemployment List
Form
Layoff Template 13 – Post Layoff Report
Civil Service Rule 17.13 – Responsibilities of Employees
Affected in a Layoff
Civil Service Rule 17.25 – Department Preferred Reemployment
List
Civil Service Rule 17.28 – Layoff Referral List of Those Actually
Laid Off
The information
contained in this circular is the most current available and should be used in
favor of any information that is currently in the HR Handbook on-line, in
the event there
is a conflict. The HR Handbook will be
updated as soon as possible.
We strongly recommend that you contact your agency
Assistance Coordinator when you believe layoff avoidance measures or a layoff
are unavoidable. Layoffs can become
very complicated and we are here to provide whatever assistance you need to
help make this process flow as smoothly as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the layoff
process please contact your Assistance Coordinator at (225) 342-8274.
Sincerely,
Acting Director
Layoff
Checklist - Procedural Guidelines for Implementing Layoffs
(11/09/05)
Before You Begin:
If your layoff involves only probational employees
please refer to Civil Service Rules 17.9(b) and 17.10(b).
If your layoff involves permanent employees only, or a combination
of permanent and probational employees, please follow these guidelines.
Adjusted service dates for employees should be verified and
maintained as employees are hired and as their employment circumstances
change. If your adjusted service date
records are not up to date, you will need to calculate them and verify your
results with each affected employee.
(Template 1 – Prior State Service Questionnaire)
[If you need assistance in how to calculate adjusted service dates,
please refer to the on- line HR Handbook>Layoff Issues>Section
2>Adjusted State Service Date for Layoff (Rule 1.39.2) – General
Information]
ADUSTED
SERVICE DATES VERIFIED ____________
As you plan your layoff and actually draft your layoff plan,
we highly recommend that you contact your DSCS Assistance Coordinator.
Unless you are a quasi-state entity and your budget process
is completely independent of the Division of Administration, the Division
requires you to submit a Personnel Action Fiscal Impact Statement (provided by OPB
– copy attached) along with a copy of your proposed layoff plan to your
agency’s OPB Analyst at the Office of Planning and Budget, Division of
Administration (see Day 1, Item 3). Any questions concerning the Fiscal Impact
Statement should be directed to your agency’s OPB Analyst.
The checklist provided below begins on the day you are ready
to submit your proposed layoff plan to DSCS and fiscal impact statements to
DOA. The timeframes suggested in the
checklist assume six weeks from the date the proposed plan is delivered to DSCS
to the effective date of the layoff. In
our experience, six weeks is about how long it typically takes to complete a
layoff that involves displacement of any significant number of employees. The number of days required for certain
notices and the displacement process are flexible. Certain other time frames are established by rule and cannot be
adjusted. Each situation is unique and
your Assistance Coordinator can help you to determine how to complete your
layoff in the shortest possible time frame.
We will make
every effort to accommodate the effective date proposed by the agency. However, please be advised that the final
determination of the effective date of layoffs rests with the Director of Civil
Service and your proposed effective date may be changed as circumstances
dictate.
(1 of 4)
We recommend that all notices and memos be delivered to
employees in person, whenever possible.
If you need to mail notices, particularly in areas where employees have been
displaced, we recommend that you mail notices and memos to both their address
of record and any current address the employee may have provided to you and
allow a minimum of 7 days for delivery.
Step 1:
Post the “General Notice of
Impending Layoff”, which includes the contents of Civil Service
Rule 17.13 – Responsibilities of Employees Affected in a Layoff (Template 2). The notice may be posted on your agency website, agency bulletin
boards, etc. The General Notice may be
posted on Day 1 or delivered to employees along with Individual Notices (see
Day 1 – Item 2); however, we recommend that you post the General Notice as soon
as you know your agency will be in a layoff posture.
DATE POSTED ____________
Step 2:
Draft Your Layoff Plan:
Identify positions to be
abolished or employees who occupy positions for which there is currently no
available work and/or funding.
Information that Civil Service Rule 17.15 requires your plan to include
is detailed in Layoff Template 3 (attached). The timeframes suggested assume
that the effective date of your layoff will be six weeks (42 calendar days)
after completing the steps outlined in “Day 1”. Please contact your Assistance Coordinator as you draft your
plan, especially when a shorter time frame is needed.
Day 1: (Items 2 – 4 may be done before or after
Item 1. The critical date is the
date that distribution of
Individual Notification is complete.)
1. Notify affected employees:
1.Individual
Notification of Pending Layoff or memo (Template #4)
2.The proposed
layoff plan signed by your appointing authority
3.Copy of Rule 17.13 –
Responsibilities of Employees Affected by Layoff
The layoff plan cannot be
approved until at least 5 calendar days after the last employee notice is
delivered. Delivery may be
accomplished by hand, fax, e-mail or mail.
If notice is mailed, you must allow 7 days for receipt and an additional
reasonable period of time for employees to return comments. We recommend that you NOT use
certified mail.
COMPLETION DATE OF DELIVERY OF INDIVIDUAL NOTIFICATIONS ____________
2. Post the proposed layoff plan on your website. (optional)
DATE
POSTED____________
(2
of 3)
3. Deliver the proposed layoff plan with the Personnel Action
Fiscal Impact Statement to the attention of your agency’s OPB Analyst at the
Division of Administration for approval UNLESS your agency is a
quasi-state entity and your budget process is completely independent of
the Division of Administration.
Notify DSCS as soon as DOA
approval is received.
DATE DELIVERED TO DOA ____________
DATE DSCS NOTIFIED OF DOA APPROVAL ____________
4. Deliver the proposed layoff plan to DSCS. Include a cover memo or letter indicating
the date that the last individual notice to affected employees is delivered or
mailed.
DATE
DELIVERED TO DSCS ____________
Days 2 – 15:
Forward copies of employee comments to your DSCS
Assistance Coordinator as
they are received.
Day 16:
The earliest DSCS can approve the
plan if notice was given to employees by mail.
DSCS notifies agency if / when plan is approved. Appointment freeze required in Rule 17.16
begins and remains in effect until the Department Preferred List is
established. This rule imposes a hiring
freeze on job titles and career fields identified in the layoff plan.
DATE OF DSCS APPROVAL OF PLAN ____________
PROPOSED EFFECTIVE DATE OF LAYOFF __________________
Day 17 - 36:
Distribute approved layoff
plan, appropriate memos and forms to each affected employee.
1.
Make a copy of the approved layoff plan available to
all employees who may be affected by posting on your website, by mail, etc. or
by notifying employees of how if can be accessed.
DATE APPROVED LAYOFF PLAN MADE
AVAILABLE ____________
2.
Deliver memos and forms to employees who are
being displaced and/or laid off. Select
appropriate memos and forms from the templates provided. Displacement
offers should be in writing and include the pay that the employee will make. (If you need assistance in implementing your
displacement process, please contact your Assistance Coordinator.)
PROBATIONAL employees (Templates 5 or 6)
PERMANENT employees without displacement offers
(Templates 7 or 8)
PERMANENT
employees with displacement
offers (Templates 9 or 10)
3.
Deliver a Layoff Displacement Offer Form (Template
11) to each employee being displaced and offered another position.
4.
Deliver a Department Preferred Reemployment List Form
(Template 12) to each permanent employee who will be eligible for the preferred
reemployment list.
Day 36:
Document the date
that the last displacement offer was made, or if no displacement offers were
made, the date that the last notice of layoff was given.
DATE LAST OFFER OR LAST LAYOFF
NOTICE GIVEN_______________
NOTE: There must be at least
five calendar days between the last notice / offer and the effective date of
the layoff per Rule 17.10(a)4. This
period exists to give employees a chance to bring any possible layoff rule
violations, etc. to the attention of their appointing authority and/or Civil
Service prior to the effective date of the layoff.
Day 42:
Layoff goes into effect.
Appointment freeze remains in effect until the Department Preferred List
is established.
DSCS establishes Department Preferred Reemployment List and informs
agency.
DATE
DEPT. PREFERRED LIST ESTABLISHED (APPOINTMENT FREEZE ENDS)
______________________
Submit Post-
Layoff Report (Layoff Template # 13) to DSCS no later than 15 calendar days
after the effective date of the layoff per Rule 17.24.
This template contains the information required to finalize DSCS layoff
records and create the Department Preferred Reemployment List. Please attach a cover letter that clearly
states the total number of people actually laid off and the total number of
people who were demoted as the result of displacement. If you would like to submit the information
on the template electronically, please contact your Assistance
Coordinator. They will assist you in
obtaining the record format required for electronic submission.
The Division of
Administration has requested that you also submit a copy of the post layoff
report and an updated Personnel Action Fiscal Impact Statement to your OPB
analyst.
DATE POST-LAYOFF REPORT SUBMITTED TO DSCS
_______________________
DATE POST-LAYOFF REPORT & FISCAL IMPACT SUBMITTED TO
DOA_______
(4 of 4)
