Current through Register Vol. XLII, No. 1, January 3, 2025
Section 217-1-2 - Definitions2.1. "Accrue" means the process of increasing or accumulating periodically or by increment.2.2. "Accrual Rate" means the grouping by the cumulative years of eligible employment which is used to determine the rate of accrual of annual leave benefits.2.3. "Agency" means any authority, bureau, commission, or Division or similar cabinet subpart of the Department of Transportation.2.4. "Agency head" means the chief executive officer of an agency.2.5. "Annual Leave" means an accrued benefit of paid time off from work that is earned by an employee to be used with prior approval of the appointing authority or designee.2.6. "Allocation" means the assignment of a position to a class by the Division of Human Resources of the Department of Transportation based on the duties performed and responsibilities assigned.2.7. "Appeal" means a request made to an agency head or the Division to reconsider a decision.2.8. "Application" means a form used to gather information sufficient to demonstrate that the applicant for employment has the relevant skills, education, and experience to perform a job or class of jobs and indicates the applicant's literacy and communication skills. The application may be prescribed by the Division of Human Resources.2.9. "Appointment" means the act of hiring an applicant for employment.2.10. "Business Necessity" means the reason or cause for any of a variety of personnel actions based upon the condition of the Department, in whole or in part, or a specific program component which may include, but is not limited to, lack of funds or work; abolishment of positions; material changes in mission, duties or organization; loss of budgeted, allocated or available positions; reinstatement of eligible employees returning from military duty or temporary total disability; reinstatement of an employee in compliance with a legal order; and for recall of employees previously laid off.2.11. "Classification and Compensation Career Plan" or "CCCP" means the Department of Transportation's plan by which positions in the merit-based personnel system are designated as classified service or classified-exempt service, allocated by class, assigned official pay rates and compensation ranges, and by which pay administration rules are established.2.12. "Class" or "Class of Positions" means one or more positions sufficiently similar in duties, training, experience and responsibilities, as determined by specifications, that the same title, the same qualifications, and the same schedule of compensation and benefits may be equitably applied to each position in the class.2.13. "Class Specification" means the official description of a class of positions for the purpose of describing the nature of work, providing examples of work performed, and identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities, required while stating the generally accepted minimum qualifications required for employment.2.14. "Classified Employee" means an employee who occupies a position allocated to a class in the classified service of the CCCP or the West Virginia Division of Personnel classified service.2.15. "Classified-Exempt Service" means as established by statute, those positions which satisfy the definitions for "class" and "classify" but which are not covered under the CCCP merit system.2.16. "Classified Service" means those positions which satisfy the definitions for "class" and "classify" and which are covered under the CCCP merit system standards or the West Virginia Division of Personnel classified service.2.17. "Classify" means the process of ascertaining, analyzing, and evaluating the duties and responsibilities of positions to determine the number and kind of classes existing in the service and to group the positions in classes.2.18. "Competitive list" or "register" means an official list of currently available eligible applicants for a position or job class listed in the order of the final score as a result of the Department of Transportation's examination for the competitive appointment of classified employees.2.19. "Date and Time of Separation" means the last date and time worked by an employee separated from employment due to dismissal, voluntary resignation, voluntary retirement, layoff, or death; the date of death of employees who die while on paid or unpaid leave; the date and time notification is received by employees resigning or retiring while on military leave, or while receiving workers' compensation temporary total disability benefits as a result of a personal injury or illness received in the course of and resulting from covered employment with the Department of Transportation, or due to disability as verified by a physician or practitioner.2.20. "Day" means an interval of 24 hours as represented by a calendar day, unless otherwise specified.2.21. "Demotion" means a change in the status of an employee from a position in one class to a position in a lower job class as measured by compensation range, minimum qualifications, or duties, or a reduction in an employee's pay to a lower rate in the compensation range assigned to the class.2.22. "Demotion with Prejudice" means a disciplinary action resulting in the reduction in pay and a change in job class to a lower job class.2.23. "Demotion without Prejudice" means a reduction in pay and a change in job class to a lower job class due to business necessity or as a result of an employee being selected for a vacant, posted position for which he or she applied.2.24. "Department" means the Department of Transportation.2.25. "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities, a record of such impairment, or regarded as having such an impairment.2.26. "Discretionary" means within a choice or judgment.2.27. "Dismissal" means an involuntary separation of employment of a classified employee initiated by an agency head for any reason specified in this rule or for good cause; involuntary separation of employment of a classified-exempt employee with or without cause.2.28. "Division" means the Division of Human Resources within the Department of Transportation.2.29. "Effective Date" means the established date an action takes place.2.30. "Eligible Applicant" or "Eligible" means an applicant accepted for an examination who meets all minimum requirements and whose name is listed on the register or competitive list established for the class of position.2.31. "Employee" means a person who lawfully occupies a position in a DOT agency and who is paid a wage or salary and who has not severed the employee-employer relationship.2.32. "Examination" means the process of assessing or measuring and evaluating the relative skills, abilities, and fitness of applicants by job-related procedures. Examples include, but are not limited to application evaluation, written test, performance test, physical agility test, interview, or oral assessment, psychological or behavioral assessment, drug screening, and background evaluation.2.33. "Fitness" means suitability to perform all essential duties of a position by virtue of meeting the established minimum qualifications and being otherwise qualified.2.34. "Full-time Employee" means any employee who works the full work schedule established for the agency.2.35. "Hourly Rate" means the total annual salary, excluding annual increment, divided by 2,080 hours for full-time permanent and temporary salaried employees or divided by the actual number of hours worked annually for part-time permanent employees, and temporary salaried employees.2.36. "Immediate Family" means the parents, children, siblings, spouse, parents-in-law, children-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, stepparents, stepsiblings, stepchildren, foster children, individuals in an in loco parentis relationship, and individuals in a legal guardianship relationship.2.37. "Incapacity" means an illness of, or injury to, an employee which temporarily prevents him or her from performing the essential duties of his or her position.2.38. "Incumbent" means any employee occupying a position.2.39. "Job Abandonment" means the unauthorized absence from work under such conditions as to be synonymous with resignation.2.40. "Last Date and Time on Payroll" means the calendar date and hour an employee's pay ceases.2.41. "Last Day of Work" means the last calendar date and hour an employee is physically on the job.2.42. "Lateral Class Change" means the movement of any employee from one class to another class in the same compensation range.2.43. "Layoff" means a reduction in the number of employees resulting in involuntary separation from employment or reduction in work schedule due to business necessity.2.44. "Minimum Qualifications" means the least experience, training, or a combination of both required by the Division for employment in a class of position and admission to an examination for that class of position.2.45. "Month" means any of the twelve parts into which the calendar year is divided.2.46. "Occupational Group" means a category of job classes grouped by similarity of occupation or profession.2.47. "Open Competitive Examination" means an examination which permits the competition of all persons who meet the publicly announced minimum requirements for a class of position.2.48. "Organization" means a hiring unit within the Department of Transportation.2.49. "Original Appointment" means initial employment of an individual into the Department's "CCCP" merit system, or the West Virginia Division of Personnel's merit system, as a result of selection from a certification of names from a register or competitive list established by open competitive examination or from a preference register.2.50. "Part-time Employee" means any person who works less than the full-time work schedule established for an agency.2.51. "Pay Differential" means a type of salary adjustment to address circumstances including, but not limited to, class-wide recruitment or retention problems, regionally specific geographic pay disparities, apprenticeship program requirements, shift differentials for specified work periods, and temporary upgrade programs.2.52. "Pay Increment" means the step increase amounts established to implement pay practices including hiring rates, salary advancements, and pay on promotion within the CCCP.2.53. "Pay Plan" means a compensation schedule for the Department's classified service consistent with merit principles.2.54. "Pay Rate" means one of the monthly or hourly rates within the compensation range established for each class included in the approved pay plan; the usual rate of pay. Though pay may be expressed in terms of a monthly rate, employees may be paid on a bi-weekly basis.2.55. "Per Diem" means a daily rate of pay.2.56. "Permanent Employee" means any classified employee who has completed the probationary period prescribed for the job class, or any classified-exempt employee who was hired to fill a position for an unlimited period of time, notwithstanding the agency's right to terminate the employee for cause for a classified exempt employee, at the will and pleasure of the agency head.2.57. "Physician or practitioner" means a person licensed under the laws of a state to practice medicine or a medical practitioner.2.58. "Posting" means the method of announcing a job vacancy either internally or externally. 2.58.a. An internal posting is a job vacancy announced to all current and former certified permanent state employees in the classified service through the Division's posting system.2.58.b. An external posting is an announcement to the general public through a public service announcement that the Division is accepting applications for an examination.2.59. "Position" means an authorized and identified group of duties and responsibilities assigned by the Division requiring the full-time or part-time employment of at least one person.2.60. "Position Description" means the document which describes the officially assigned duties, responsibilities, supervisory relationships, and other pertinent information relative to a position. This document is the basic source of official information in position allocation. It may be prescribed by the Division.2.61. "Probationary Period" means a specified trial work period designed to test the fitness of an employee for the position for which an original appointment has been made.2.62. "Promotion" means a change in the status of an employee from a position in one class to a vacant position in another class of higher rank as measured by salary range or increased level of duties, responsibilities, or both.2.63. "Reallocation" means reassignment of a position by the Division from one class to a different class on the basis of a change in the kind or level of duties or a combination of both, assigned to the position, or to address a misalignment of title and duties.2.64. "Recall" means the re-employment from a recall list of a former permanent classified employee separated due to layoff.2.65. "Reclassification" means the revision by the Division of the specifications of a class or class series which results in a redefinition of the nature of the work performed and a reassignment of positions based on the new definition and may include a change in the title, compensation range, or minimum qualifications for the classes involved.2.66. "Reinstatement" means a type of re-employment of a former permanent classified employee.2.67. "Resignation" means voluntary separation from employment, including job abandonment, by an employee.2.68. "Secretary" means the Department of Transportation Cabinet Secretary.2.69. "Separation" means separation from employment that may be either voluntary or involuntary.2.70. "Sick Leave" means an accrued benefit of paid time off for illnesses, injuries and other health related circumstances as specified by this rule.2.71. "Suspension" means action taken by an agency to temporarily relieve an employee of his or her duties and place the employee in unpaid status. There are two types of suspension:2.71.a. "Disciplinary Suspension" means a disciplinary action for cause.2.71.b. "Non-disciplinary Suspension" means an indefinite period of suspension to perform an investigation regarding an employee's conduct which has a reasonable connection to the employee's performance of his or her job or when the employee is the subject of an indictment or other criminal proceeding.2.72. "Temporary Employment" means employment exempt from the classified service for a period generally not to exceed 1,000 work hours per twelve-month period.2.73. "Terminal annual leave" means the balance of an employee's accrued and unused annual leave as of that employee's last day of work.2.74. "Vacancy" means an unfilled or soon to be vacated budgeted position in the classified service.2.75. "Veteran" means any person who meets the requirements set forth in W. Va. Code § 6-13-1. et seq.2.76. "Veterans' Preference Points" means an additional five points added to the final passing score on an open competitive examination of any veteran as defined by this rule. An additional five points are available to those veterans who also have a current and compensable service connected disability or who have received a Purple Heart award.2.77. "Work Schedule" means the designation of the periods of time during which work is performed.2.78. "Workday" or "working day" means days exclusive of Saturday, Sunday, official holidays, and any day in which the employee's workplace is legally closed as provided for by statute, rule, policy, or practice.2.79. "Workweek" means the time period of seven consecutive days, beginning and ending at specified days and times, during which work is performed and work hours reported for compliance with applicable federal and state labor laws.2.80. "Year" means a 12 consecutive month period, unless otherwise specified.