SECTION 16.10 SENIORITY

Last Update: 4/04

Guidelines on Seniority

1. A contract covered employee’s seniority date is defined by the applicable collective bargaining agreement:

AFSCME: An employee’s length of continuous service with the Employer in a permanent position since the employee's date of hire. Any length of service in a temporary position shall be included in the computation of seniority if the employment was in the same classification as, and contiguous to, the appointment to a permanent position. All project appointment time is included in seniority date computation if the project appointment is made to an AFSCME covered class.

In the 2003-2005 negotiations, AFSCME/Iowa Council 61 and the State modified the calculation of an employee’s bargaining unit seniority.

• Employees covered by SPOC or UE/IUP have no seniority upon entrance or return to an AFSCME covered position.
• If a bargaining eligible employee was not in an AFSCME eligible class on July 1, 2003, seniority will be calculated beginning on the date the employee entered the AFSCME covered class.
• Current non-contract employees who were in their non-contract covered class on July 1, 2003 will continue to accrue AFSCME bargaining unit seniority based on the original date of hire with the state.
• Employees in AFSCME covered classes on July 1, 2003 who later move to a non-contract job class will have their original seniority date frozen as of the date they moved to the non-contract class.
• Employees hired after July 1, 2003 in non-contract job classes will not accrue AFSCME seniority, nor would they have any seniority to apply in cases of bumping to an AFSCME covered class.

UE/IUP: Employees entering the bargaining unit subsequent to 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 computing their seniority.

The following is the method of computing seniority dates for UE/IUP covered employees and employees in collective bargaining exempt positions who previously held UE/IUP covered classes.

a. If the employee was in the bargaining unit on 7-1-87, then the seniority date will not be adjusted for time spent in a collective bargaining exempt position;

AND

b. If the employee was not in the bargaining unit on 7-1-87, but has reentered the bargaining unit since 7-1-87, any time spent in a collective bargaining exempt position will not count for seniority date purposes;

AND

c. Any time spent in a collective bargaining exempt position after 7-1-87 will not count for seniority date purposes.

EXAMPLES:

UE/IUP: Employee A is employed with the State in 1978 and becomes a supervisor in 1980. That employee only has two years of seniority in the bargaining unit and does not get to count supervisory time because Employee A entered the bargaining unit after 1987.

Employee B is employed with the State in 1986 in a bargaining unit position. Employee B becomes a supervisor in 1989. Because of the layoffs, Employee B bumps back into the unit in 1991. Employee B has the 3 years seniority from 1986 to 1989 and for the period 1991 forward.

Employee C is hired as a supervisor in 1988. During the layoffs, Employee C has to bump. Employee C has no seniority to bump within the bargaining unit because that employee will be entering the bargaining unit after July 1, 1987.

SPOC: The employee’s length of service with the Employer in a peace officer classification in the department conducting the layoff.

2. Seniority dates must be calculated and submitted to DAS-HRE with the recall form for non-contract covered employees who are laid off as they may elect to bump or be recalled to contract covered classes. If a person in a position exempted by statute from collective bargaining includes one or more UE/IUP or AFSCME classes on the application for recall, the seniority date must also be calculated as outlined in this section.