SECTION 12.20 SENIORITY
Last Update: 11/03
The negotiations for the 2003 – 2005 agreement between AFSCME/Iowa Council 61 and the State resulted in a modification to the calculation of an employee’s bargaining unit seniority. The most significant modification is that employees covered by a different collective bargaining agreement have no seniority upon entrance or return to an AFSCME covered position. For all practical purposes that means that the bargaining status of any contract eligible employee on July 1, 2003, will determine the employee’s AFSCME bargaining unit seniority. As such, unless the contract eligible employee was serving in an AFSCME eligible job classification on July 1, 2003, that employee will have NO AFSCME bargaining unit seniority for purposes of transfer or layoff, even if the employee later reenters a job class covered by AFSCME. This is true regardless of any prior service in a job classification that was covered by AFSCME prior to July 1, 2003.
Current employees in non-contract job classes effective July 1, 2003, will continue to accrue AFSCME bargaining unit seniority based upon the original date of hire with the State of Iowa. However, current AFSCME contract eligible employees who promote or are reclassified to a position or job class that is not contract covered after July 1, 2003, will suffer no reduction in the accrued AFSCME bargaining unit seniority accrued to that date. This means that employees in an AFSCME covered job classification who after July 1, 2003, move to a non-contract eligible position or job class will not accrue additional AFSCME bargaining unit seniority upon entrance to the non-contract eligible position or job class. In essence, the AFSCME bargaining unit seniority for such employees will be frozen in time as the date of entrance into a non-contract eligible position or job class for purpose of transfer and layoff. As such, employees in that situation may exercise bumping to a previously held AFSCME job classification or lower class in a job class series based only upon the seniority accrued prior to becoming a non-contract eligible employee.
Employees hired after July 1, 2003, in non-contract eligible job classes will not accrue AFSCME seniority, nor would those employees have any seniority to apply in cases of transfer or layoff to an AFSCME covered job class. Demotion, promotion, or reclassification to an AFSCME covered job class for employees hired after July 1, 2003, in non-contract job classes will result in the employee having an AFSCME bargaining unit seniority date effective with the date the employee enters the AFSCME covered job class.
In the SPOC agreement, seniority is the length of service in Peace Officer classifications in the department.
In the IUP agreement, seniority is the length of service in any position covered by any collective bargaining agreement. In the IUP agreement, employees entering the bargaining unit after July 1, 1987, from positions exempted by statute from collective bargaining shall include only time spent in positions not exempted by statute from collective bargaining in their seniority. More information about seniority is found in Article V of each of the agreements.
Seniority Application
Seniority as defined in the agreements should only be applied when required by the agreements. For example, seniority is used to determine transfer rights, scheduling vacation within a work unit if the employee is requesting vacation sixty (60) calendar days in advance, approval for educational leave without pay, layoff, tuition reimbursement for the Fiscal and Staff Unit, training to carry out assigned duties, and overtime assignment.
Part-time Employment
A part-time employee’s seniority date will not be prorated due to the employee’s part-time status.
Breaks in Service
An employee’s continuous service for purposes of seniority is broken by resignation, discharge, or retirement. If an employee returns to state service after such a break, a new seniority date will be established. If an employee leaves work for any other reason, such as a layoff, long term disability, or an approved leave of absence without pay, seniority will not be broken unless the absence exceeds two years or the employee’s previous length of service whichever is less. [The SPOC agreement only provides for retention of seniority only if an employee is laid off and recalled within eighteen (18) months. In this instance the original seniority date will be adjusted for the time the employee was laid off.]
Retroactivity
The AFSCME and IUP agreements prohibit retroactive application of the guidelines for setting seniority dates. Employees will retain seniority dates which were established prior to the effective date of the current agreements.
Appeals
AFSCME or IUP covered employees may appeal their seniority dates within (90) calendar days after the date of posting. An appeal may be in the form of an official grievance or simply a verbal inquiry with the personnel officer.
If the seniority date is incorrect as posted, it will be corrected a promptly as possible. The time needed for correction will vary depending on whether the error is merely typographical or requires a records search by the Department of Administrative Services – Human Resources Enterprise.
Credit for Temporary Employment
Temporary service for AFSCME or IUP employees will count towards the seniority date if it is in the same class as and contiguous to a permanent appointment.
Special Notes on Seniority
The “adjusted employment date” should not be confused with the contractual seniority date. The adjusted employment date’s sole purpose is to determine an employee’s annual leave accrual rate. An employee’s ADJUSTED EMPLOYMENT DATE may or may not be the same as his or her SENIORITY DATE. One reason for the difference is the way in which temporary service is credited. Only temporary appointments in the same class as and contiguous to a permanent appointment will count towards the employment date.