As used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Agency" means a department, institution of higher learning, board, commission, or school that is a governmental unit of the State of South Carolina. Special purpose districts, political subdivisions, and other units of local government are excluded from this definition.
(2) "Appeal" means the request by a covered employee to the State Human Resources Director for review of an agency's final decision concerning a grievance.
(3) "Board" means the Department of Administration.
(4) "Calendar days" means the sequential days of a year. The time must be computed by excluding the first day and including the last. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it must be excluded.
(5) "Class" means a group of positions sufficiently similar in the duties performed, degree of supervision exercised or received, minimum requirements of education, experience or skill, and the other characteristics that the same state class title and the same state salary range are applied to each position in the group by the Office of Human Resources.
(6) "Committee" means the State Employee Grievance Committee.
(7) "Covered employee" means a full-time or part-time employee occupying a part or all of an established full-time equivalent (FTE) position who has completed the probationary period and has a "meets" or higher overall rating on the employee's performance evaluation and who has grievance rights. Instructional personnel are covered upon the completion of one academic year except for faculty at state technical colleges of not more than two full academic years' duration. If an employee does not receive an evaluation before the official review date, the employee must be considered to have performed in a satisfactory manner and be a covered employee. This definition does not include employees in positions such as temporary, temporary grant, or time-limited employees who do not have grievance rights.
(8) "Demotion" means the assignment of an employee by the appointing authority from one established position to a different established position having a lower state salary range.
(9) "Deputy director" means an employee who has been appointed under the provisions of Section 1-30-10(E), oversees a division, and reports directly to the agency head.
(10) "Full-time equivalent" or "FTE" means a value expressing a percentage of time in hours and of funds related to a particular position authorized by appropriations acts enacted by the General Assembly.
(11) "Grievance" means a complaint filed by a covered employee or the employee's representative regarding an adverse employment action designated in Section 8-17-330 taken by an agency.
(12) "Instructional personnel" means employees of an agency that has primarily an educational mission, excluding the state technical colleges and excluding those employees exempted in Section 8-17-370(10) who work an academic year.
(13) "Involuntary reassignment" means the movement of an employee's principal place of employment in excess of thirty miles from the prior work station at the initiative of the agency. The reassignment of an employee by an agency in excess of thirty miles from the prior work station to the nearest facility with an available position having the same state salary range for which the employee is qualified is not considered involuntary reassignment.
(14) "Mediation" means an alternative dispute resolution process whereby a mediator who is an impartial third party acts to encourage and facilitate the resolution of a dispute without prescribing what it should be. The process is informal and nonadversarial with the objective of helping the disputing parties reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
(15) "Mediation-arbitration" means an alternative dispute resolution process that provides for the submission of an appeal to a mediator-arbitrator, an impartial third party who conducts conferences to attempt to resolve the grievance by mediation and render a decision that is final and binding on the parties if the appeal is not mediated.
(16) "Probationary employee" means a full-time or part-time employee occupying a part or all of an established FTE position in the initial working test period of employment with the State of twelve months' duration for noninstructional personnel, of the academic year duration for instructional personnel except for those at state technical colleges, or of not more than two full academic years' duration for faculty at state technical colleges. An employee who receives an unsatisfactory performance appraisal during the probationary period must be terminated before becoming a covered employee.
(17) "Promotion" means an employee's change from a position in one class to a position in another class having a higher state salary range. Failure to be selected for a promotion is not an adverse employment action that can be considered as a grievance or appeal.
(18) "Punitive reclassification" means the assignment of a position in one class to a different lower class with the sole purpose to penalize the covered employee.
(19) "Reassignment" means the movement within an agency of an employee from one position to another position having the same state salary range, or the movement of a position within an agency which does not require reclassification.
(20) "Reclassification" means the assignment of a position in one class to another class which is the result of a natural or an organizational change in duties or responsibilities of the position.
(21) "Reduction in force" means a determination made by an agency head to eliminate one or more filled positions in one or more organizational units within the agency due to budgetary limitations, shortage of work, or organizational changes.
(22) "Salary decrease based on performance" means the reduction of a covered employee's compensation based on the results of an Employee Performance Management System (EPMS) evaluation.
(23) "State Human Resources Director" means the head of the Office of Human Resources of the Department of Administration, or his designee.
(24) "Suspension" means an enforced leave of absence without pay pending investigation of charges against an employee or for disciplinary purposes.
(25) "Temporary employee" means a full-time or part-time employee who does not occupy an FTE position, whose employment is not to exceed one year, and who is not a covered employee.
(26) "Termination" means the action taken by an agency against an employee to separate the employee involuntarily from employment.
(27) "Transfer" means the movement to a different agency of an employee from one position to another position having the same state salary range, or the movement of a position from one agency to another agency which does not require reclassification.
HISTORY: 1982 Act No. 402, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 178, Section 9, eff July 1, 1993; 1993 Act No. 164, Part II, Section 8A, eff June 21, 1993, and subsec. (11) first applies with respect to employees hired after June 30, 1993; 1994 Act No. 407, Section 1, eff May 25, 1994; 1996 Act No. 284, Section 3, eff October 1, 1996.