ORD-2007-219 - Human Resources - Provisional Status Employees Amendment to Personnel Ordinance Article 1 Sections 2.0 & 4.0

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A s REVISED ABSTRACT ONLY 2 11/2/07 status and must be employed for 24 consecutives months from the date of their employment before they can obtain Career Status under the State Personnel Act. For these employees, access to the state's contested case hearing and appeal process will be limited to cases of unlawful discrimination. Many organizations tie property interest and benefits to a permanent verses a probationary or temporary employment status. However, while due process is tied to career status under the State Personnel Act, benefits are not. A covered employee in a permanent position who has not received career status receives the same health and leave benefits under the State Personnel Policy as a career state employee. In other words, for purposes of health and leave benefits there is no distinction between career status and successful completion of a probationary period for employees in permanent positions. The North Carolina Administrative Code establishes a probationary period as not less than "three months nor more than nine months." (25 NCAC 011 .2002(a)(2)) For now, this has not changed, although the Office of State Personnel has said that that this could change in the administrative rulemaking process. Orange County's Personnel Ordinance creates a distinction between probationary and permanent employees for both benefits and acquiring a property right in the job. The Ordinance grants "permanent employee" status to new employees once they have successfully completed their probationary period. It provides that "an employee who has not obtained permanent status at the end of nine (9) months will be terminated unless the delay is necessitated by a provisional or trainee status." (emphasis added) (Article II, Section 6.3.5.) An Orange County employee who is in a probationary status receives health and some leave benefits. The Ordinance confers additional benefits to employees once they have completed their probationary period. These benefits are: petty leave, funeral leave, maternity leave, military leave, tuition refund and educational leave, the ability to donate or request shared leave, and access to the grievance and appeal process. While the Orange County Personnel Ordinance can confer some benefits on an employee who is not permanent, it cannot confer "permanent status" to an employee subject to the State Personnel Act who has not completed the twenty -four consecutive month period. Presently, there are employees covered by this statutory amendment who were hired prior to the start date of the new state law amendment who had not completed their probationary period on or before August 18th. When hired, these employees were told that their probationary period would be six months. The Personnel Department has discussed this situation and the impact of it with the County Manager and the respective Department Heads and is in the process of notifying employees of the changes and the effect they have on their career service status. To provide access to those benefits mentioned above for these and future employees covered by the change in the statute, staff believes that the Ordinance can be amended to confer a "provisional" status on those employees that would entitle them to benefits similarly conferred upon permanent employees. This will not give them permanent status but will allow them access to the full range of County Benefits after their probationary period has been successfully completed.