H. B. 2634


(By Delegates Hubbard, Damron,
Beach and Hutchins)
[Introduced January 14, 1998 ; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]



A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article nine, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to raising classified employee salaries by changing the experience increment from thirty-six dollars to fifty dollars and by adding a provision granting employees who work shifts other than day shift extra compensation equal to one eighth of their daily rate of pay.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article nine, chapter eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9. CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE SALARY SCHEDULE AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM.
ยง18B-9-5. Classified employee salary.
(a) Each classified employee who is employed by a governing board on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety- three, shall receive for the same employment at the same pay grade during the fiscal year commencing on such that date and thereafter, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature therefor, and in addition to the experience increment increase provided for in subsection (b) of this section, a monthly salary which is at least one hundred twenty-five dollars more than the final base monthly salary paid such the classified employee for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, to be paid in equal installments within the regular pay periods and to be prorated for classified employees working less than thirty-seven and one-half hours per week.
(b) Commencing with the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one ninety-seven, and each fiscal year thereafter, each classified employee with three or more years of experience shall receive an annual salary increase equal to thirty-six fifty dollars times the employee's years of experience: Provided, That such the annual salary increase shall may not exceed the amount granted for the maximum of twenty years of experience. These incremental increases shall be in lieu of any salary increase received pursuant to section two, article five, chapter five of this code; shall be in addition to any across-the-board, cost-of-living or percentage salary increases which may be granted in any fiscal year by the Legislature; and shall be paid in like manner as the annual payment to eligible state employees of the incremental salary increases based on years of service under the provisions of said the section.
(c) Any classified employee may receive merit increases and /or salary adjustments in accordance with policies established by the board: Provided, That funds for such the increases and /or adjustments shall be distributed in accordance with rules of the appropriate governing board and shall be available to all state institutions of higher education on an equitable basis.
(d) The current annual salary of any classified employee may not be reduced by the provisions of this article nor by any other action inconsistent with the provisions of this article, and nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit promotion of any classified employee to a job title carrying a higher pay grade if such the promotion is in accordance with the provisions of this article and the personnel classification system established by the appropriate governing board.
(e) In addition to all other salary or wages granted pursuant to this section, each classified employee whose regular shift does not begin and end between the hours of seven o'clock a.m. and five o'clock p.m. shall receive additional pay for each day of employment equal to not less than one eighth of his or her daily rate of pay.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the experience increment for classified employees from thirty-six dollars to fifty dollars and to grant additional compensation equal to one eighth of an employee's daily rate of pay when he or she is required to work a shift other than day shift.

Strike throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.