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ARTICLE VIII SEPARATIONS Section 1 - Resignations An employee who resigns shall advise the City in writing. A copy of the resignation shall be forwarded to, and recorded by, the Department/ Division Head of the department. A copy of, or notification of resignation, shall be filed with the City Human Resource Department. Section 2 - Suspensions, Dismissals, Demotions, Reductions in Pay Paragraph 1. An employee holding a regular appointment in the City Career Service may be demoted, reduced in pay, suspended, placed on probation, dismissed, or any other sanction, for any of the following: Violation of the City Employees' Career Service Rules and Regulations or City policy. Neglect of duty. Disobedience of a reasonable order by any supervisor Inefficiency or inability to satisfactorily perform assigned duties. An act hostile to public service. The City has an interest in ensuring that employees maintain necessary job qualifications and avoid behavior, job performance, or lack of action which disrupts the workplace, undermines the authority of management, impairs close working relationships, or otherwise impedes a safe, efficient, and effective workplace environment. Paragraph 2. Demotion, reduction in pay, suspension, being placed on probation, dismissal, or any other disciplinary sanction shall be made only upon written order of the appointing authority setting forth specifically the reason for such action. Paragraph 3. For regular status employees, the process involves a pre-disciplinary conference whereby the employee is given written notice of the charges; the employee is given an explanation of the evidence supporting the charges; and the ---PAGE BREAK--- employee is given the opportunity to present the employee’s side of the story. Next, the employee should be told that the department/division head will consider all the facts and notify the employee of the final decision. Depending on the circumstances and facts to be compiled and considered, suspension with pay may be appropriate during this time. If the decision is to terminate employment, a final letter of that decision, the charges supporting that decision, together with information notifying the employee of appeal rights should then be given to the employee. Paragraph 4. Upon ordering the suspension, probation, dismissal or any other sanction, the department/division head ordering the same shall file written charges with the Human Resource Department, and serve the employee a copy thereof, either personally, or by certified mail sent to the employee’s last known address. Within five working days after service, the employee may file a written appeal to the Personnel Advisory Board in accordance with procedures described in Article IV - Appeals. The Personnel Advisory Board shall be the appeal board provided under section 10-3-1106 of the Utah Code. Section 3 - Lay-Offs Paragraph 1. If it is necessary to reduce the number of employees in a specific job classification within a City department due to lack of work or lack of funds, the City shall, whenever possible, attempt to minimize lay-offs by readjusting personnel and/or assigning the employee to duty in other departments. If lay-offs are necessary, seasonal, part-time and probationary employees shall be laid off first. “Probationary employees” means employees who have been newly hired or promoted but have not completed their probationary period, or employees who have been placed on probation for disciplinary purposes. The order of laying off regular employees shall be determined by a combination of the three most recent performance-evaluation scores and seniority in the City, starting from lowest to highest. Each factor shall be given equal weight. If an employee has been evaluated fewer than three times, all evaluations available shall be used for ranking purposes. In the event that the combined factors are equal between two or more employees, the Department Head shall determine in which order the affected employees are to be laid off based on their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Paragraph 2. The laid-off employee shall have the right to move to the next lower grade position within the department, provided the employee meets the minimum qualifications for the position. If the employee moves into the next lower grade position, this may cause the need for further lay-offs due to lack of work and/or lack of funds. In this case, employees in the lower position shall be laid off in the order provided in Paragraph 1. ---PAGE BREAK--- Paragraph 3. – Severance Pay When regular full-time employees are laid off through no fault of their own, they will be eligible to receive severance pay as follows: Employees which have one to two years' regular full-time employment with the City shall be entitled to the equivalent of ten (10) days' prorated pay. If the employee is laid off after more than two years’ employment with the City, in addition to the severance pay described above, the employee shall also receive an additional amount equal to five prorated working days for each year of service with the City in excess of two years, up to a maximum of thirty (30) days. Severance pay is in addition to any comp time, vacation and/or sick leave benefits accrued and owing the employee at the time of layoff. Section 4 - General Re-employment Lists For each class of position, the Human Resource Director shall maintain a general re-employment list, consisting of the names of persons who have occupied positions in that class in the classified service with regular status, and who have been separated from City employment for reasons other than for cause, and who have made written application to the City to have their names placed on an appropriate re-employment list. Names shall be placed on the re-employment lists in order of seniority of service at the time of separation. The names on the re-employment lists shall expire individually at the conclusion of one year unless extended by action of the Human Resource Director. However, a person’s name may not be kept on a re-employment list longer than three years after the person ceased to work for the City. Section 5 - Acting in Position If a regular employee is temporarily assigned to perform the function of a position in a higher grade, it is not necessary that the person meet the minimum requirements of the temporary position, provided the person does not serve longer than six months before either qualifying for the higher position and is regularly promoted under the provisions of these regulations, or the position is otherwise filled in compliance with these regulations. Upon approval of the Department/Division Head, an employee acting in position for at least thirty (30) calendar days may receive a temporary pay adjustment of up to the minimum of the higher grade or a five percent increase, whichever is greater, if the job classification difference is less than three grades higher. A ten percent (10%) increase may be given if the job classification is three or more grades higher. The pay adjustment shall be effective and retroactive back to the date the employee started working out of classification.