ARTICLE 16. SENIORITY

16.1 Seniority, for the purpose of this Agreement, shall be defined as follows: The length of continuous, regular, and probationary service with the Employer from the date an employee was first certified and appointed to a class title covered by this Agreement, it being further understood that seniority is confined to the current class assignment held by an employee. In cases where two (2) or more employees are appointed to the same class title on the same date, the seniority shall be determined by employee’s rank on the eligible list from which certification was made.

16.2 Seniority shall terminate when an employee retires, resigns or is discharged.

16.3 In the event it is determined by the Employer that it is necessary to reduce the workforce, employees will be laid off by class title within each department based on inverse length of seniority as defined above. For the purposes of this section the following groupings of job titles shall be considered as one classification:

· Clerk I BOE and Clerk II BOE;

· Clerk Typist I BOE and Clerk Typist II BOE; and

· Data Entry Operator I BOE and Data Entry Operator II BOE

If there are vacancies in the class titles on which seniority was based, in any other department, the affected employee will be placed in such vacancy. If two or more vacant positions are available, the Human Resource Department shall decide which vacant positions the affected employee shall fill. Whenever possible, employees shall be placed in a position with the same or similar number of annual hours per work year as the position from which they are being displaced. If no vacancy exists the least senior employee in such titles shall be identified. The affected employee shall have the right to claim that position and the least senior employee shall be the employee laid off.

16.4 In cases where there are promotional series, such as Technician I, II, III, etc., when the number of employees in these higher titles is to be reduced, employees who have held lower titles which are in this bargaining unit will be offered reductions to the highest of these titles to which class seniority would keep them from being laid off, before layoffs are made by any class title in any department.

16.5 In cases where an employee to be laid off has held no regular appointment in a lower title in the same promotional series as his/her current title, that employee will be offered a reduction to the title within the bargaining unit to which he/she was regularly appointed immediately prior to his/her current title, so long as there is either a vacancy or, if no vacancy exists, a less senior employee in such title may be displaced.

The employee reducing into a title formerly held must satisfactorily complete a probationary period of six (6) months only if the employee has worked outside of this title for 24 months or more. If the probationary period is not satisfactory, the employee shall, at any time during the probationary period, be reinstated to his/her former title and shall be laid off, but such employee’s name will be placed on the reinstatement register in his/her former title and “bumping” rights herein shall not again apply to such employee.

16.6 It is understood that such employees will pick up their former seniority date in any class of positions that they previously held.

16.7 Recall from layoff shall be in inverse order of layoff, except that recall rights shall expire after two (2) years of layoff.

16.8 This procedure will be followed by the Board of Education for Board of Education employees. City employees being reduced or laid off may not displace Board of Education employees. Board of Education employees being reduced or laid off may not displace City employees. The Board of Education is not included as a City department nor is a Board of Education employee included as a City employee.

16.9 In the event of a known layoff of employees or non-filling of vacant positions due to budget reductions, the employer shall meet and confer with Local 844 representatives no less than twenty (20) working days prior to official board action.

ARTICLE 15. PROBATION TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTICLE 17. DISCIPLINE