H. B. 2743
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Beach, Morgan,
Craig, Doyle, Houston and Manuel)
[Introduced January 28, 2003; 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 removing the
twenty-year service cap for state employees.
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.
§18B-9-5. Classified employee salary.
(a) Commencing with the fiscal year beginning on the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, and each fiscal
year thereafter, each classified employee with three or more years
of experience shall receive an annual salary increase equal to fifty dollars times the employee's years of experience: Provided,
That the annual salary increase may not exceed the amount granted
for the maximum of twenty years of experience. These incremental
increases are in lieu of any salary increase received pursuant to
section two, article five, chapter five of this code; are 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 section two,
article five, chapter five of this code.
(b) (a) Any classified employee may receive merit increases
and salary adjustments in accordance with policies established by
the board of governors: Provided, That merit raises may be granted
only pursuant to a rule adopted by the board of governors, and
approved by the chancellor, which provides a fair and equitable
basis for granting merit raises pursuant to regular evaluations
based upon reasonable performance standards.
(c) (b) 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 may be construed to prohibit promotion of
any classified employee to a job title carrying a higher pay grade
if the promotion is in accordance with the provisions of this article and the personnel classification system established by the
appropriate governing board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the 20 year
service cap for higher education classified employees allowing
these employees to receive seniority benefits.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.