To: Heads of State Agencies and Human Resource Directors

Subject: Changes Resulting From Department Staff Reduction

Issue Date: April 12, 1995

Because of staff cuts within the Department of Civil Service, specifically the Classification and Pay Division, certain changes will be effected to assure that all vital functions continue to be performed. Within this General Circular are listed those changes that will be implemented to guarantee that this takes place.

1. Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Classification and Pay Division has continued to receive large numbers of Position Description (Standard Form 3) updates for purposes of compliance with ADA. Because of our limited staff (due to budget cuts) we need to devote more time to systems maintenance activities. For this reason, we are requesting that agencies follow the guidelines below when submitting updates or new position descriptions.

a. Positions which have not been updated or acted upon by this department since 1990 should be submitted in the usual manner.

b. Positions which have been updated or acted upon since 1990 should have the essential functions denoted on your file copy of the position description, and the mental and physical requirements should be attached. It is not necessary to submit these to this department. However, when the position is appealed or regularly updated in the future, you can then review the new description for modifications to the ADA information, then submit for our review.

NOTE: If your agency feels compelled to have an official copy of the ADA requirements of any particular position on file with this department, please keep all agency copies, sending only the pink copy clearly indicating the agency, job title and position number, so we may attach it to our file copy. This will eliminate our involvement with the entire Standard Form 3.

c. Positions that reflect changes in duties since the last update or action should be submitted to us regardless of the time since the last submission. Please indicate that these are agency appeals by marking the appeal box. This will let us know that it is an update, but reflects duty changes. It will not be necessary to complete the requested title portion of the description.

We hope that this new procedure will eliminate some unnecessary paperwork for us, as well as the individual agencies.

2. There are other essential changes which can only occur with your cooperation, and that of all employees in your agency (we would ask that these changes to our everyday procedures be officially communicated by your office to assure compliance).

a. We ask that only essential matters be sent to us. We will discontinue, until further notice, the issuing of advisory opinions on Standard Forms 3 before they are officially submitted for allocation/reallocation.

b. No requests for status of submitted Standard Forms 3 should be made for at least ninety (90) days. While we anticipate our "turn-around" time to be less than three (3) months in the majority of cases, the constant calling for position allocation information causes ongoing problems that must be eliminated if we are to handle important system maintenance activities. Note: Those of you who have access to our "Open System" can, at any time, obtain information relative to any Position Description submitted for allocation or reallocation purposes.

c. We must stress the importance of close attention being paid to all items required on official forms, such as comparative positions on Standard Forms 3. Please give us as much information, as possible, to facilitate processing and eliminate our need to contact you or perform desk audits.

d. Expect delays on the "least pressing" job studies/reevaluation requests/desk audits that we receive. These will be handled usually on a "first in-first out" basis; however, this will always be at our discretion.

e. Please make appointments with our Human Resource Consultants before coming to the Classification and Pay Division relative to any official matter. (If this is not done in advance there may be long waits for you or your staff members before someone can see you.)

f. The Classification and Pay Division will not be initiating any classification reviews or unsolicited job studies in the foreseeable future. This means all reviews/studies must be requested by the appointing authority, and that proposals from groups/societies/individuals will not be accepted.
To be very candid, it is our intention to study and finalize all requests, presently in hand, as quickly as possible, considering the staff limitations that confront us. We will continue to make very effort to meet the self- imposed deadlines/time frames that have resulted in positive comments from the respective agency officials. However, we want all concerned to fully realize that the reduction in our Classification and Pay staff will cause some time delays; therefore, the need by you to follow all of the above policy and procedural changes is imperative. If you have any questions, please call Bill Larguier, Chief of Classification and Pay, at (504) 342-8083.

Sincerely,

Herbert L. Sumrall
Director