Senate Bill No. 509

(By Senators Plymale, Bowman, Caldwell Dempsey, Edgell, Guills, Hunter, Oliverio, Unger and White)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on Education;

reported February 12, 2003.]

_____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article five, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section five, article nine, chapter eighteen-b of said code, all relating to classified employees; and removing the twenty-year cap for the annual experience increment.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article five, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section five, article nine, chapter eighteen-b of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 5. SALARY INCREASE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
 §5-5-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article:
(1) (a) "Eligible employee" means either of the following:
(1) Any regular full-time employee of the state or any spending unit thereof of the state who is eligible for membership in any state retirement system of the state of West Virginia or other retirement plan authorized by the state: Provided, That the mandatory salary increase required by this article shall not apply to any faculty employee at public state institutions of higher learning education, or any employee of the state whose compensation is fixed by statute or by statutory schedule other than employees described in this section. (except that the Clerks, deputy clerks and magistrate assistants of magistrate courts shall be are eligible for the incremental salary increases provided in this article and with such the increases to be allowable in addition to the maximum salaries and compensation for such the employee offices under the magistrate court system statutes of article one, chapter fifty of the code.), nor shall This article may not be construed to mandate an increase in the salary of any elected or appointed officer of the state; or
(2) Any classified employee as defined in section two, article nine, chapter eighteen-b of this code who is an employee of a state institution of higher education or of the higher education policy commission;
(2) (b) "Years of service" means full years of totaled service as an employee of the state of West Virginia; and
(3) (c) "Spending unit" means any state office, department, agency, board, commission, institution, bureau or other designated body authorized to hire employees.
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 twenty-year experience cap for the annual experience increment classified employees of state institutions of higher education and of the higher education policy commission.

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