Ark. Code § 21-4-203

Current with legislation from 2024 Fiscal and Special Sessions.

Section 21-4-203 - Definitions

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Agency head" or "agency director" means the executive head of an agency, department, board, commission, bureau, council, or other entity of the state;

(2) "Annual leave" means vacation time with pay but does not include compensatory time;

(3) "Catastrophic illness" means a medical condition, as certified by a physician, of an employee, of the spouse or parent of the employee, or of a child of the employee that requires the employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and which, except for the catastrophic leave program, would result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the exhaustion of all accrued leave and compensatory time;

(4) "Catastrophic leave" means leave granted to an employee as a result of a catastrophic illness, upon the employee's exhausting all sick and annual leave;

(5) "Catastrophic leave bank" means a pool of accrued annual and sick leave donated by employees;

(6) "Compensatory time" means time off in lieu of payment for overtime hours;

(7)

(A) "Critical-need employee" means a person employed by any of the following state agencies in a position or classification that is required to be staffed by the state agency twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week:

(i) The Department of Corrections;

(ii) The Department of Health;

(iii) The Department of Human Services;

(iv) The Division of Emergency Management;

(v) The Division of Arkansas State Police;

(vi) The Department of Veterans Affairs; or

(vii) The Department of Agriculture.

(B) A state agency shall:

(i) Determine each position or classification that is required to be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week under subdivision (7)(A) of this section and submit the position or classification to the Office of Personnel Management for approval;

(ii) Upon the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, notify an employee that he or she is a critical-need employee based upon his or her employment in a position or classification that is required to be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week; and

(iii) Submit annual reports identifying each position or classification that must be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week to the Legislative Council or, if the General Assembly is in regular, fiscal, or extraordinary session, the Joint Budget Committee;

(8) "Educational leave" means any period of out-service training during which time the employee pursues a regular full-time course of instruction to acquire a specific skill or skills needed;

(9) "Employee" means a person regularly appointed or employed in a position of state service by a state agency, as defined in subdivision (12) of this section, for which he or she is compensated on a full-time basis;

(10) "Probationary employee" means a person certified from a list of eligibles or employed through a work test appointment and serving a probationary period;

(11) "Provisional employee" means a person who has been appointed to fill a position pending the establishment of a register for such a position;

(12) "State agencies" means all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, bureaus, councils, state-supported institutions of higher education, or other agencies except the following excluded agencies or positions within agencies:

(A) The elected constitutional officers of this state and their employees;

(B) The General Assembly and its employees, including employees of the Bureau of Legislative Research and Arkansas Legislative Audit;

(C) Members of the Supreme Court, members of the Court of Appeals, the Administrative Office of the Courts, circuit courts, and prosecuting attorneys, but not including deputy prosecuting attorneys;

(D) The Arkansas Department of Transportation; and

(E) All administrative, academic, or other nonclassified employees of the state-supported institutions of higher education;

(13)

(A) "Working day" means all regularly prescribed days of employment in which the employee performs those duties for which he or she was hired.

(B) For the purposes of this subchapter, a working day consists of eight (8) hours; and

(14) "Years of service" includes the total number of years of employment with all agencies of Arkansas state government whether such employment is continuous or not.

Ark. Code § 21-4-203

Amended by Act 2021, No. 573,§ 2, eff. 7/28/2021.

Amended by Act 2021, No. 573,§ 1, eff. 7/28/2021.

Amended by Act 2021, No. 378,§ 1, eff. 3/17/2021.

Amended by Act 2017, No. 707,§ 67, eff. 8/1/2017.

Amended by Act 2017, No. 254,§ 1, eff. 8/1/2017.

Amended by Act 2017, No. 182,§ 2, eff. 2/16/2017.

Amended by Act 2017, No. 182,§ 1, eff. 2/16/2017.

Amended by Act 2015, No. 389,§ 1, eff. 7/22/2015.

Added by Act 2013, No. 997,§ 1, eff. 8/16/2013.

Acts 1975, No. 567, § 3; 1979, No. 1077, § 1; 1981, No. 695, §§ 1, 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 12-2366; Acts 1991, No. 91, § 1; 1991, No. 169, § 1; 1999, No. 1044, § 6; 1999, No. 1176, § 3; 1999, No. 1438, § 4; 2001, No. 1553, § 33.