W. Va. Code R. § 143-1-3

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 45, November 8, 2024

Section 143-1-3 - Definitions

3.1. Accrual Rate. -- The grouping by the cumulative years of eligible employment which is used to determine the rate of accrual of annual leave benefits.

3.2. Accrue. -- The process of increasing or accumulating periodically or by increment.

3.3. Administrator. -- Any person who fills a statutorily created position within or related to an agency or board (other than a board member) and who is designated by statute as the head of the agency or board.

3.4. Affiliation. -- Adoption of employees of state agencies or parts of state agencies to the classified service by action of the legislature, or executive order of the Governor with the consent of the Board and the appointing authority concerned, and when additional county or municipal agencies are added to the classified service through agreement between the local government and the Director with the approval of the Board.

3.5. Agency. -- Any authority, board, bureau, commission, division, or other entity of state government, however designated, transferred to or incorporated in one of the departments created in W. Va. Code § 5F-1-2, as well as any affiliated county or municipal agencies. Provided, that individual districts, offices, regions, sections and units within the same agency, however designated, shall not be considered a separate agency.

3.6. Allocation. -- The assignment of a position to a class by the Director of Personnel based on the duties performed and responsibilities assigned.

3.7. Annual Leave. -- An accrued benefit of paid time off from work that is earned by an employee to be used with prior approval of the appointing authority or designee.

3.8. Appeal. -- A request made to the Director or Board to reconsider a decision.

3.9. Appointing Authority. -- The executive or head of a department or agency who is authorized by statute to appoint employees in the classified or classified-exempt service. By written notification to the Director of Personnel, the appointing authority may delegate specific powers authorized by this rule to persons who satisfy the definition of employee as established in this rule.

3.10. Appointment. -- The act of hiring an applicant for employment.

3.11. Available. -- The indication, by an eligible applicant, of the conditions under which employment would be accepted including, but not limited to, location, salary, and starting date of employment.

3.12. Board. -- The State Personnel Board as provided for in W. Va. Code § 29-6-6.

3.13. Business Necessity. -- The reason or cause for any of a variety of personnel actions based upon the condition of the agency, in whole or in part, or specific program components which may include, but is not limited to, lack of funds or work; abolishment of positions; material changes in mission, duties or organization; loss of budgeted, allocated or available positions; reinstatement of eligible employees returning from military duty or temporary total disability; reinstatement of an employee in compliance with a legal order; and for recall of employees previously laid off.

3.14. Carry Forward Days. -- The maximum number of annual leave days which can be accredited for use as of the first day of January based on an employee's length of service category.

3.15. Certification. -- The official list of eligible applicants given to an appointing authority for filling vacancies in the classified service.

3.16. Class or Class of Positions. -- One or more positions sufficiently similar in duties, training, experience and responsibilities, as determined by specifications, that the same title, the same qualifications, and the same salary schedule as defined in this section may be equitably applied to each position in the class.

3.17. Classification Action. -- The actions of allocation, reallocation, classification, and reclassification.

3.18. Classification Plan. -- The plan by which positions in the classified service and classified-exempt service have been allocated by class.

3.19. Class Specification. -- The official description of a class of positions for the purpose of describing the nature of work, providing examples of work performed, and identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities required while stating the generally accepted minimum qualifications required for employment.

3.20. Classified Employee. -- An employee who occupies a position allocated to a class in the classified service.

3.21. Classified-Exempt Service. -- As established by statute, those positions which satisfy the definitions for "class" and "classify" but which are not covered under the Division of Personnel merit system standards or employment standards of the higher education systems.

3.22. Classified Service. -- Those positions which satisfy the definitions for "class" and "classify", and which are covered under the Division of Personnel merit system standards.

3.23. Classify. -- The process of ascertaining, analyzing, and evaluating the duties and responsibilities of positions to determine the number and kind of classes existing in the service and to group the positions in classes.

3.24. Compensation Range. -- The approved monthly and annual salary for a class which includes the minimum and maximum compensation.

3.25. Daily Rate. -- The usual rate of pay for the pay period divided by the total number of workdays plus paid holidays in the pay period for an employee whose position is assigned to a monthly pay rate.

3.26. Date and Time of Separation. -- Last date and time worked by an employee separated from employment due to dismissal, voluntary resignation, voluntary retirement, layoff, or death; the date of death of employees who die while on paid or unpaid leave; the date and time notification is received by employees resigning or retiring while on military leave, or while receiving workers' compensation temporary total disability benefits as a result of a personal injury or illness received in the course of and resulting from covered employment with the State or its political subdivisions in accordance with W. Va. Code § 23-4-1, or due to disability as verified by a physician/practitioner.

3.27. Day. -- Unless otherwise specified, an interval of 24 hours as represented by a calendar day.

3.28. Demotion. -- A change in the status of an employee from a position in one class to a position in a lower job class as measured by compensation range, minimum qualifications, or duties, or a reduction in an employee's pay to a lower rate in the compensation range assigned to the class. There are two (2) types of demotion:

3.28.a. Demotion with Prejudice. -- A disciplinary action resulting in the reduction in pay and a change in job class to a lower job class.

3.28.b. Demotion without Prejudice. -- A reduction in pay and/ora change in job class to a lower job class due to business necessity or as a result of an employee being selected for a vacant, posted position for which he or she applied.

3.29. Department. -- The departments of the executive branch of state government provided in W. Va. Code § 5F-1-2.

3.30. Director. -- The Director of Personnel, as provided in W. Va. Code § 29-6-7 and § 29-6-9, who serves as the executive head of the Division of Personnel, or his or her designee.

3.31. Disability. -- A physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities, a record of such impairment, or regarded as having such an impairment.

3.32. Discretionary. -- Open to individual choice or judgment.

3.33. Dismissal. -- Involuntary separation of employment of a classified employee initiated by an appointing authority for any reason specified in this rule or for good cause; involuntary separation of employment of a classified-exempt employee with or without cause.

3.34. Division of Personnel. -- The division of the Department of Administration responsible for the system of personnel administration for the classified and classified-exempt service.

3.35. Effective Date. -- The established date an action takes place.

3.36. Eligible Applicant or Eligible. -- An applicant accepted for a Division of Personnel examination who meets all minimum requirements and whose name is listed on the register established for the class of position.

3.37. Employee. -- Any person who lawfully occupies a position in an agency and who is paid a wage or salary and who has not severed the employee-employer relationship.

3.38. Examination. -- The process of assessing or measuring and evaluating the relative skills, abilities and fitness of applicants by job-related procedures. Examples include, but are not limited to: application evaluation, written test, performance test, physical agility test, interview or oral assessment, psychological or behavioral assessment, drug screening, and background evaluation. Examinations may further be defined as follows:

3.38.a. Assembled Examination. -- Any assessment procedure requiring applicants to appear at a specified time and place.

3.38.b. Unassembled Examination. -- An appraisal of job-related training, experience or any other job qualifications without the necessity for the applicant's personal appearance at a specified place.

3.39. Exempt Service. -- All positions specifically exempted from the classified service by statute or statutory authority.

3.40. Fitness. -- Suitability to perform all essential duties of a position by virtue of meeting the established minimum qualifications and being otherwise qualified.

3.41. Full-time Employee. -- Any employee who works the full work schedule established for the agency.

3.42. Hourly Rate. -- The total annual salary (excluding annual increment) divided by 2,080 hours for full-time permanent and temporary salaried employees or divided by the actual number of hours worked annually for part-time permanent employees, and temporary salaried employees. For hourly employees, the hourly rate is the actual rate established by the Board.

3.43. Immediate Family. -- Consists of the parents, children, siblings, spouse, parents-in-law, children-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, stepparents, step siblings, stepchildren, foster children, individuals in an in loco parentis relationship, and individuals in a legal guardianship relationship.

3.44. Incapacity. -- An illness of, or injury to, an employee which temporarily prevents him or her from performing the essential duties of his or her position.

3.45. Incumbent. -- Any employee occupying a position.

3.46. Inter-Agency Transfer. -- Any transfer from one agency to another.

3.47. Intra-Agency Transfer. -- Any transfer within a single agency.

3.48. Job Abandonment. -- The absence from work under such conditions as to be synonymous with resignation.

3.49. Last Date and Time on Payroll. -- The calendar date and hour an employee's pay ceases.

3.50. Last Day of Work. -- The last calendar date and hour an employee is physically on the job.

3.51. Lateral Class Change. -- The movement of any employee from one class to another class in the same compensation range.

3.52. Layoff. -- A reduction in the number of employees resulting in involuntary separation from employment or reduction in work schedule due to business necessity.

3.53. Minimum Qualifications. -- The least experience and/or training required by the Board for employment in a class of position and admission to an examination for that class of position.

3.54. Month. -- Any of the twelve parts into which the calendar year is divided.

3.55. Occupational Group. -- A category of job classes grouped by similarity of occupation or profession.

3.56. Open Competitive Examination. -- An examination which permits the competition of all persons who meet the publicly announced minimum requirements for a class of position.

3.57. Original Appointment. -- Initial employment of an individual into the classified service as a result of selection from a certification of names from a register established by open competitive examination or from a preference register.

3.58. Part-time Employee. -- Any person who works less than the full-time work schedule established for an agency.

3.59. Part-time Professional. -- Any classified-exempt employee engaged in professional services without administrative duties and who works no more than half the agency's full-time work schedule.

3.60. Pay Differential. -- A type of salary adjustment specifically approved by the Board to address circumstances including, but not limited to, class-wide recruitment and/or retention problems, regionally specific geographic pay disparities, apprenticeship program requirements, shift differentials for specified work periods, and temporary upgrade programs.

3.61. Pay Increment. -- The percentage increase amounts established by the Board to implement pay practices.

3.62. Pay Plan. -- The official schedule of pay rates, the compensation range assigned to each class of positions and the salary regulations used in pay administration for the classified service.

3.63. Pay Rate. -- One of the monthly or hourly rates within the compensation range established by the Board for each class included in the approved pay plan; the usual rate of pay. Though pay may be expressed in terms of a monthly rate, employees may be paid on a bi-weekly basis.

3.64. Per Diem. -- A daily rate of pay.

3.65. Permanent Employee. -- Any classified employee who was hired from a register and who has completed the probationary period prescribed by the Board for the job class, or any classified-exempt employee who was hired to fill a position for an unlimited period of time, notwithstanding the appointing authority's right to terminate the employee for cause or at his or her will.

3.66. Physician/practitioner. -- A person licensed under the laws of a state to practice medicine, or a medical practitioner approved by the Public Employees Insurance Agency.

3.67. Position. -- An authorized and identified group of duties and responsibilities assigned by the proper authority requiring the full-time or part-time employment of at least one person.

3.68. Position Description. -- The document which describes the officially assigned duties, responsibilities, supervisory relationships and other pertinent information relative to a position. This document is the basic source of official information in position allocation.

3.69. Probationary Period. -- A specified trial work period designed to test the fitness of an employee selected from a competitive list of eligibles for the position for which an original appointment has been received or an employee hired through reinstatement.

3.70. Promotion. -- A change in the status of a permanent employee from a position in one class to a vacant position in another class of higher rank as measured by compensation range and increased level of duties and/or responsibilities.

3.71. Provisional Appointment. -- The hiring of an employee to fill a position pending the administration of an open competitive examination and the establishment of a register.

3.72. Reallocation. -- Reassignment by the Director of a position from one class to a different class on the basis of a significant change in the kind and/or level of duties and responsibilities assigned to the position or to address a misalignment of title and duties.

3.73. Recall. -- The re-employment from a recall list of a former permanent classified employee separated due to layoff.

3.74. Reclassification. -- The revision by the Board of the specifications of a class or class series which results in a redefinition of the nature of the work performed and a reassignment of positions based on the new definition and may include a change in the title, compensation range, or minimum qualifications for the classes involved.

3.75. Register. -- An official list of currently available eligible applicants for a position or job class listed in the order of the final score as a result of the Division of Personnel examination for the competitive appointment or in tenure order for preference hiring of laid-off permanent classified employees.

3.76. Reinstatement. -- A type of re-employment of a former permanent classified employee.

3.77. Resignation. -- Voluntary separation from employment, including job abandonment, by an employee.

3.78. Salary Adjustment. -- A salary change resulting from a revision of the pay plan, the reassignment of a class to a different compensation range, a Board approved pay differential, a temporary classification upgrade, a general wage increase mandated by the Legislature or the Governor, or the correction of payroll errors.

3.79. Salary Advancement. -- A discretionary increase in compensation granted in recognition of the quality of job performance.

3.80. Salary Schedule. -- The official schedule of salaries approved by the Governor consisting of multiple compensation ranges with minimum and maximum rates of pay for each range.

3.81. Sick Leave. -- An accrued benefit of paid time off for illnesses, injuries and other health related circumstances as specified by this rule.

3.82. Suspension. -- Action taken by an agency to temporarily relieve an employee of his or her duties and place the employee in unpaid status. There are two (2) types of suspension:

3.82.a. Disciplinary Suspension. -- A disciplinary action for cause.

3.82.b. Non-disciplinary Suspension. -- An indefinite period of suspension to perform an investigation regarding an employee's conduct which has a reasonable connection to the employee's performance of his or her job or when the employee is the subject of an indictment or other criminal proceeding.

3.83. Temporary Employment. -- Limited term employment exempt from the classified service.

3.84. Terminal Annual Leave. -- The balance of an employee's accrued and unused annual leave as of that employee's last day of work.

3.85. Termination. -- Separation from employment by the appointing authority as a result of the expiration of a limited term appointment or at the end of the period of need during limited term employment.

3.86. Transfer. -- The movement of an employee to a different subdivision of an agency or geographic location of the same or a different agency.

3.87. Vacancy. --An unfilled budgeted position in the classified service to be filled by original appointment, promotion, demotion, lateral class change, transfer, or reinstatement.

3.88. Veteran. -- Any person who meets the requirements set forth in W. Va. Code § 6-13-1.

3.89. Veterans' Preference Points. -- An additional five (5) points added to the final passing score on an open competitive examination of any veteran as defined by this rule. An additional five (5) points are available to those veterans who also have a current and compensable service-connected disability or who have received a Purple Heart award.

3.90. Work Day. -- Unless otherwise specified, the use of "work day" or "working day" means days exclusive of Saturday, Sunday, official holidays and any day in which the employee's workplace is legally closed as provided for by statute, rule, policy or practice.

3.91. Work Period. -- As authorized in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a period from seven (7) consecutive days to 28 consecutive days in length for purposes of determining overtime eligibility for employees engaged in fire protection or law enforcement.

3.92 Work Schedule. -- Designation of the periods of time during which work is performed.

3.93. Workweek. -- The time period of seven (7) consecutive days, beginning and ending at specified days and times, during which work is performed and work hours reported for compliance with applicable federal and state labor laws.

3.94. Year. -- Twelve (12) consecutive month period, unless otherwise specified.

W. Va. Code R. § 143-1-3