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AN ACT Relating to salaries of employees classified by the higher education personnel board; and amending RCW 28B.16.100.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 28B.16.100 and 1990 c 60 s 202 are each amended to read as follows:

The higher education personnel board shall adopt rules, consistent with the purposes and provisions of this chapter and with the best standards of personnel administration, regarding the basis and procedures to be followed for:

(1) The dismissal, suspension, or demotion of an employee, and appeals therefrom;

(2) Certification of names for vacancies, including promotions, with the number of names equal to four more names than there are vacancies to be filled, such names representing applicants rated highest on eligibility lists: PROVIDED, That when other applicants have scores equal to the lowest score among the names certified, their names shall also be certified;

(3) Examination for all positions in the competitive and noncompetitive service;

(4) Appointments;

(5) Probationary periods of six to twelve months and rejections therein, depending on the job requirements of the class;

(6) Transfers;

(7) Sick leaves and vacations;

(8) Hours of work;

(9) Layoffs when necessary and subsequent reemployment, both according to seniority;

(10) Determination of appropriate bargaining units within any institution or related boards: PROVIDED, That in making such determination the board shall consider the duties, skills, and working conditions of the employees, the history of collective bargaining by the employees and their bargaining representatives, the extent of organization among the employees, and the desires of the employees;

(11) Certification and decertification of exclusive bargaining representatives: PROVIDED, That after certification of an exclusive bargaining representative and upon the representative's request, the director shall hold an election among employees in a bargaining unit to determine by a majority whether to require as a condition of employment membership in the certified exclusive bargaining representative on or after the thirtieth day following the beginning of employment or the date of such election, whichever is the later, and the failure of an employee to comply with such condition of employment constitutes cause for dismissal: PROVIDED FURTHER, That no more often than once in each twelve-month period after expiration of twelve months following the date of the original election in a bargaining unit and upon petition of thirty percent of the members of a bargaining unit the director shall hold an election to determine whether a majority wish to rescind such condition of employment: PROVIDED FURTHER, That for purposes of this clause, membership in the certified exclusive bargaining representative is satisfied by the payment of monthly or other periodic dues and does not require payment of initiation, reinstatement, or any other fees or fines and includes full and complete membership rights: AND PROVIDED FURTHER, That in order to safeguard the right of nonassociation of public employees, based on bona fide religious tenets or teachings of a church or religious body of which such public employee is a member, such public employee shall pay to the union, for purposes within the program of the union as designated by such employee that would be in harmony with his individual conscience, an amount of money equivalent to regular union dues minus any included monthly premiums for union-sponsored insurance programs, and such employee shall not be a member of the union but is entitled to all the representation rights of a union member;

(12) Agreements between institutions or related boards and certified exclusive bargaining representatives providing for grievance procedures and collective negotiations on all personnel matters over which the institution or the related board may lawfully exercise discretion;

(13) Written agreements may contain provisions for payroll deductions of employee organization dues upon authorization by the employee member and for the cancellation of such payroll deduction by the filing of a proper prior notice by the employee with the institution and the employee organization: PROVIDED, That nothing contained herein permits or grants to any employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his official duties;

(14) Adoption and revision of comprehensive classification plans for all positions in the classified service, based on investigation and analysis of the duties and responsibilities of each such position: PROVIDED, That reclassifications adopted by the board that result in salary increases shall not exceed the funds appropriated by the legislature for such salary increases;

(15) Allocation and reallocation of positions within the classification plan;

(16) Adoption and revision of salary schedules and compensation plans which reflect the prevailing rates in Washington state private industries and other governmental units for positions of a similar nature but the rates in the salary schedules or plans shall be increased if necessary to attain comparable worth under an implementation plan under RCW 28B.16.116 and which shall be competitive in the state or the locality in which the institution or related boards are located, such adoption, revision, and implementation subject to approval as to availability of funds by the director of financial management in accordance with the provisions of chapter 43.88 RCW, and after consultation with the chief financial officer of each institution or related board for that institution or board, or in the case of community colleges, by the chief financial officer of the state board for community and technical colleges ((~~education~~)) for the various community colleges;

(17) Training programs including in-service, promotional, and supervisory;

(18) Increment increases within the series of steps for each pay grade based on length of service for all employees whose standards of performance are such as to permit them to retain job status in the classified service: PROVIDED, That the rules adopted by the board shall not require institutions to provide such additional incremental increases unless fully funded by the legislature;

(19) Providing for veteran's preference as provided by existing statutes, with recognition of preference in regard to layoffs and subsequent reemployment for veterans and their widows by giving such eligible veterans and their widows additional credit in computing their seniority by adding to their unbroken higher education service, as defined by the board, the veteran's service in the military not to exceed five years of such service. For the purposes of this section, "veteran" means any person who has one or more years of active military service in any branch of the armed forces of the United States or who has less than one year's service and is discharged with a disability incurred in the line of duty or is discharged at the convenience of the government and who, upon termination of such service, has received an honorable discharge, a discharge for physical reasons with an honorable record, or a release from active military service with evidence of service other than that for which an undesirable, bad conduct, or dishonorable discharge shall be given: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the widow of a veteran is entitled to the benefits of this section regardless of the veteran's length of active military service: PROVIDED FURTHER, That for the purposes of this section "veteran" does not include any person who has voluntarily retired with twenty or more years of active military service and whose military retirement pay is in excess of five hundred dollars per month;

(20) Assuring that persons who are or have been employed in classified positions under chapter 41.06 RCW will be eligible for employment, reemployment, transfer, and promotion in respect to classified positions covered by this chapter; and

(21) Assuring that any person who is or has been employed in a classified position under this chapter will be eligible for employment, reemployment, transfer, and promotion in respect to classified positions at any other institution of higher education or related board.

(22) Affirmative action in appointment, promotion, transfer, recruitment, training, and career development; development and implementation of affirmative action goals and timetables; and monitoring of progress against those goals and timetables.

The board shall consult with the human rights commission in the development of rules consistent with federal guidelines pertaining to affirmative action. The board shall transmit a report annually to the human rights commission which states the progress each institution of higher education has made in meeting affirmative action goals and timetables.