§302A-610  Job-sharing.  (a)  Ajob-sharing program is established in the department subject to therequirements in this section.

(b)  The superintendent shall announce thejob-sharing program to all full-time, tenured, certificated personnel of thedepartment, excluding educational officers, and shall solicit the voluntaryrequests of personnel interested in participating in the program.

The superintendent, in consultation with therecognized employee bargaining units, shall formulate and adopt guidelines forthe implementation of this section.  Employees who respond to the announcementand other persons who request information shall receive a full writtendescription of the terms of the program when the guidelines are finalized, andthose persons desiring to participate may apply to participate in the program. The employees who apply for participation shall obtain the concurrence of theirimmediate supervisor, other appropriate personnel officers, and thesuperintendent.  Those persons who qualify then shall be interviewed by apersonnel officer of the department.

Upon the selection of a permanent, full-timeemployee for job-sharing, the superintendent shall convert the position of theemployee into two job-sharing positions, one of which shall be filled by theemployee, and the other by the hiring of a new hire or by another tenured,certificated employee of the department, excluding any educational officer.

A person hired to fill a job-sharing positionshall be recruited through this section and shall possess the minimumrequirements of the full-time position that was converted into a job-sharingposition under this section.

(c)  Benefits that can be divided in half, suchas the number of days of sick leave, and are considered to be an equitableshare when divided, shall be computed on that basis.  Benefits that cannot bedivided, such as eligibility for membership in the public employees' healthplan shall be given to the job-sharers without the foregoing division,notwithstanding any provision of chapter 87 or 88 to the contrary.  The newlyhired job-sharer shall be excluded from collective bargaining under chapter 89.

The full-time permanent employee shall not losemembership in an employee bargaining unit because of participation in thisprogram, any other law to the contrary notwithstanding.  Union membership orservice fees paid by the job-sharer under this section shall be at a levelconsistent with normal union membership dues or service fees.  The State'scontribution to the job-sharers' prepaid health, prepaid dental, and group lifeinsurance plans shall be the same as for full-time employees, any other law tothe contrary notwithstanding.  Job-sharers shall be covered under chapter 386and the applicable provisions of chapter 383.  Service credit for the tenuredteacher participating in the program under this section shall be given on thesame basis as that for full-time employees.  Nothing in this section shall beconstrued, however, to vest any person with any rights to permanent employmentstatus, whether under civil service or otherwise, which did not exist prior tothe participation of the person in the job-sharing program.  The granting oftenure shall be under applicable statutes.  No full-time position shall beabolished or reduced to a half-time position except for the purpose ofjob-sharing.  In a reduction-in-force procedure, consideration of ajob-sharer's tenure rights shall be on the same basis as that of a full-timeemployee.  Nothing in this section shall impair the employment or employmentrights or benefits of any employee.

(d)  Tenured employees sharing full-timepositions with other tenured employees shall not be required to relinquishtheir duty-free period.  The job-sharing team shall submit to its principal ajob-sharing proposal that preserves its duty-free period and meets theeducational needs of its students.  Where the job-sharing team cannot reach areasonable scheduling agreement, the team may agree to waive its contractualrights by executing a contract waiver.

(e)  Participation in the program shall requirethe commitment on the part of all parties to a contractual agreement for oneyear; provided that the employee shall be given the option to renew thecontract for another year, subject to approval by the immediate supervisor andpersonnel officer of the department.

(f)  No job-sharing position committed to aspecified period of time under the terms of the contractual agreement shall beconverted to full-time status before the termination of the contractual agreement. A job-sharing vacancy created by the resignation, retirement, or otherpermanent or temporary severance of employment with the department on the partof any person may be filled by the department either through recruitment ofanother person pursuant to this section, or by increasing the remaininghalf-time job-sharing person to full-time employment by mutual agreement.

(g)  Upon the termination of contractualagreements, all job-sharing positions shall be renegotiated or reconverted tofull-time positions, and the employees who held the full-time positions priorto their participation in the job-sharing program under this section shall beentitled to resume their positions without loss of previous tenure or otheremployee rights.

(h)  Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year,this section shall be interpreted as though the term "certificated"read "licensed" as the latter term is used in subpart D, and ascircumstances require. [L 1996, c 89, pt of §2; am L 2001, c 312, §§7, 13; am L2002, c 16, §32]

 

Note

 

  Chapter 87 referred to in text is repealed.