Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
least 24 consecutive months (measured from their original date of employment) before <br />they gain a property interest that is protected by due process. <br /> <br />Persons in the first group will be covered by the disciplinary action and appeals policy in 25 <br />NCAC 1I.2300. They will, if demoted, suspended without pay or dismissed, need to have apre- <br />disciplinary conference, a written letter of discipline with specific reasons, written information <br />about accessing your internal grievance procedure, and will be able to request a contested case <br />hearing from OAH and a decision by the State Personnel Commission. <br />Persons in the second group will be covered by the disciplinary action and appeals policy in 25 <br />NCAC 1I.2300 only after they have served 24 consecutive months in a position in your county <br />that is subject to the State Personnel Act. They will, if demoted, suspended without pay or <br />dismissed, have the same rights as persons in the first group only after they have served 24 <br />consecutive months in a position in your county that is subject to the State Personnel Act. <br />With this change, this might be a good time to review your internal, departmental grievance <br />procedures. It is likely that a number of you give access to your internal grievance procedure <br />based on completion of a probationary period. You may keep this practice, but if you do, you <br />(and your employees) need to know that persons who do not have career status have only limited <br />access to the Office of Administrative Hearings/State Personnel Commission. You may want to <br />consider whether you want to limit access to your internal procedure to only those individuals <br />with career status. ~~ <br />The legal effect of this statutory change is to extend the period of at-will employment for <br />employees in the second group from whatever the length of your department's probationary <br />period is to a period of 24 months. This means that these employees are not entitled to the <br />protections of the disciplinary action policy in 25 NCAC 1I.2300, nor are they entitled to access <br />your department's grievance procedure or appeal to the State Personnel Commission (except in <br />cases of prohibited discrimination.) <br />It does not affect the probationary period at all. What it does change is the probationary period <br />to a device that maybe of significance in salary administration or leave usage. Some counties <br />provide a salary increase once an employee completes a probationary period. Some counties <br />only allow employees to begin using earned, accumulated paid leave after they have completed a <br />probationary period. This law will not change those policies. <br />Clearly, this raises a number of practical issues. A significant issue is how to handle transfers <br />between county SPA agencies, such as a transfer from DSS to Public Health, within the same <br />county. At the State level, once a person gains career status, it is lost only after a "break in <br />service" occurs. <br />[A break in service is defined in State policy as being off the payroll (that is, not being a <br />State employee, whether in pay status or in LWOP status) for more than 31 calendar <br />days. There is no such a definition in the Administrative Code for local government.] <br />Since the law requires consecutive service in a position subject to the State Personnel Act, a <br />transfer from one SPA county agency to another would not appear to trigger a break in service, <br />especially since this is all within the employment of a single county. <br />Director's Office Phone: 919-807-4800 Fax: 919-715-9750 <br />An Equal Opportunity Employer <br />