H. B. 4554
(By Delegates Shaver, Beach, Howard, Paxton,
Long, Canterbury and MezzatestaSPONSOR)
(Originating in the DATE
Committee on Education)
[February 20, 2004]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-4-15Bill Title of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to Title Languagethe rights, privileges and
benefits of substitute service personnel employed to fill
vacancies created by leaves of absence, workers' compensation
and suspensions for more than thirty working days.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That Enacting Section§18A-4-15Bill Title of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
§18A-4-15. Employment of service personnel substitutes.
(a) The county board shall employ and the county
superintendent, subject to the approval of the county board, shall
assign substitute service personnel on the basis of seniority to
perform any of the following duties:
(1) To fill the temporary absence of another service employee;
(2) To fill the position of a regular service employee who
requests a leave of absence from the county board in writing and
who is granted the leave in writing by the county board, and to
fill the position of a regular service employee who is on workers'
compensation and absent: Provided, That if the leave of absence is
to extend beyond thirty working days, the county board shall post
the position of the absent employee under the procedures set forth
in section eight-b of this article. If a substitute service
employee is employed to fill the position of the absent employee,
the substitute service personnel shall have regular employment
status and be accorded all rights, privileges and benefits
pertaining to the position within twenty working days from the
commencement of the leave of absence, shall give regular employee
status to a person hired to fill the position. The person employed
on a regular basis shall be selected under the procedure set forth
in section eight-b of this article. The substitute shall hold the
position and regular employee status only until the regular
employee returns to the position or ceases to be employed by the
county board: and the substitute shall have and shall be accorded
all rights, privileges and benefits pertaining to the position:
Provided, however, That if a regular or substitute employee fills
a vacancy that is related to a leave of absence or absence of an
employee on workers' compensation in any manner as provided in this
section, upon termination of the leave of absence the employee shall be returned to his or her original position: Provided
further, That no service person may be required to request or to
take a leave of absence: And provided further, That no service
person shall be deprived of any right or privilege of regular
employment status for refusal to request or failure to take a leave
of absence;
(3) To perform the service of a service employee who is
authorized to be absent from duties without loss of pay;
(4) To temporarily fill a vacancy in a permanent position
caused by severance of employment by the resignation, transfer,
retirement, permanent disability, dismissal pursuant to section
eight, article two of this chapter, or death of the regular service
employee who had been assigned to fill the position: Provided,
That within twenty working days from the commencement of the
vacancy, the board shall fill the vacancy under the procedures set
out in section eight-b of this article and section five, article
two of this chapter and the person hired to fill the vacancy shall
have and shall be accorded all rights, privileges and benefits
pertaining to the position;
(5) To fill the vacancy created by a regular employee's
suspension: Provided, That if the suspension is for more than
thirty working days, the county board shall post the position of
the suspended employee under the procedures set forth in section
eight-b of this article. If a the substitute service employee is employed to fill the suspended employee's position, the substitute
service personnel shall be assigned to fill the vacancy on a
regular basis and shall have regular employment status and be
accorded all rights, privileges and benefits pertaining to the
position until the termination by the county board becomes final or
the suspended employee is returned to employment. If the suspended
employee is not returned to his or her job, the board shall fill
the vacancy under the procedures set out in section eight-b of this
article and section five, article two of this chapter; and
(6) To temporarily fill a vacancy in a newly created position
prior to employment of a service personnel on a regular basis under
the procedure set forth in section eight-b of this article.
(b) Substitutes shall be assigned in the following manner: A
substitute with the greatest length of service time, that is, from
the date he or she began his or her assigned duties as a substitute
in that particular category of employment, shall be given priority
in accepting the assignment throughout the period of the regular
employee's absence or until the vacancy is filled on a regular
basis under the procedures set out in section eight-b of this
article. All substitutes shall be employed on a rotating basis
according to the length of their service time until each substitute
has had an opportunity to perform similar assignments: Provided,
That if there are regular service employees employed in the same
building or working station as the absent employee and who are employed in the same classification category of employment, the
regular employees shall be first offered the opportunity to fill
the position of the absent employee on a rotating and seniority
basis with the substitute then filling the regular employee's
position. A regular employee assigned to fill the position of an
absent employee shall be given the opportunity to hold that
position throughout the absence. For the purpose of this section
only, all regularly employed school bus operators are deemed to be
employed within the same building or working station.
(c) Regular school service personnel shall be returned by the
county board of education to the same position held prior to any
approved leave of absence or period of recovery from injury or
illness. The school service personnel shall retain all rights,
privileges and benefits which had accrued at the time of the
absence or accrued under any other provision of law during the
absence and shall have all rights, privileges and benefits
generally accorded school service employees at the time of return
to work.
(d) The salary of a substitute service employee shall be based
upon his or her years of employment as defined in section eight of
this article and as provided in the state minimum pay scale set
forth in section eight-a of this article and shall be in accordance
with the salary schedule of persons regularly employed in the same
position in the county in which he or she is employed.
(e) Before any substitute service employee enters upon his or
her duties, he or she shall execute with the county board a written
contract as provided in section five, article two of this chapter.
(f) To establish a uniform system of providing a fair and
equitable opportunity for substitutes to enter upon their duties
for the first time, the following method shall be used: The
initial order of assigning newly employed substitutes shall be
determined by a random selection system established by the affected
substitute employees and approved by the county board. This
initial priority order shall be in effect only until the substitute
service personnel have entered upon their duties for the first
time.
(g) Substitute service employees who have worked thirty days
for a school system shall have all rights pertaining to suspension,
dismissal and contract renewal as is granted to regular service
personnel in sections six, seven, eight and eight-a, article two of
this chapter.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
