Lewisburg Area School District Policies	Printable version
511 Suspensions and Furloughs 511. SUSPENSIONS/FURLOUGHS 1. Purpose SC 4062. Definition The Board shall hire and maintain the necessary support employees to implement the district's educational programs and to operate the district.Suspension/Furlough shall refer to the involuntary temporary or permanent termination of an employee due to a lack of work or a reduction in the workforce. 3. Authority The Board directs the Superintendent to continually review the effectiveness of the organization of the district's support staff and recommend to the Board the number of support staff positions needed to operate the district. Based upon the Superintendent's recommendations and other factors such as changes in enrollment, educational programs, organizational structure or economic conditions of the district, the Board shall determine the number of support staff positions to be filled. At times, there may be a need to abolish support staff positions by suspending or furloughing support employees. A process of voluntary attrition shall be followed as far as is possible. 4. Guidelines Employees who have completed their probationary period and are involuntarily terminated because of lack of work or reduction in force will be placed on suspension/furlough status. Employees to be placed on suspension/furlough status shall be determined by seniority within support staff categories.Suspensions or furloughs of support employees shall be according to the following. The Business Office shall maintain a seniority roster of support employees by time within the district and in each of the following support staff categories. This roster shall be updated annually. Maintenance Workers Clerical AidesHead Custodians Instructional AidesCustodians Certified Instructional Aides Crossing Guards Health-Room AidesAdministrative & General Secretary Computer AidesCafeteria Manager Computer Technicians Groundskeeper Food Service Worker If the process of voluntary attrition does not yield the necessary reduction in support staff, employees shall be suspended for economic reasons consistent with law in each support staff category in inverse order of seniority within the district. An employee who is suspended for cause, that being incompetency, intemperance, neglect of duty, violation of school laws, or other improper conduct, need not be suspended in inverse order of seniority. The support staff shall be realigned to ensure the more senior employees in each of the aforementioned categories are provided opportunity to fill positions in their respective categories which are held by less senior employees. However, such realignment shall not be construed to require program changes, department revisions, or school building realignments. 2 Pa. C.S.A. Sec. 551 et seq Support employees are entitled to a Local Agency Law hearing at the employee's request prior to suspension/furlough. The Superintendent shall maintain a list of suspended/furloughed support employees by support staff category. Reinstatement of suspended/furloughed employees in each support staff category shall be from this list and on the basis of seniority within the district.Reinstatement to the district in a different support staff category other than the one in which the furlough occurred will be based upon qualifications and ability to perform the work available. Consideration in filling vacancies will be given to employees on layoff status. Suspended or furloughed support employees shall remain on the list of suspended/ furloughed support employees until: 1. The employee requests that his/her name be withdrawn from the list. 2. The employee refuses to accept reinstatement to a position of the same grade that s/he held prior to suspension/furlough. 3. A period of one (1) year from the date of suspension/furlough has elapsed. RecallsRecalls will be made in inverse order of furlough/suspension, i.e., the last employee furloughed/suspended will be the first to be recalled.When a vacancy occurs in a different category from which the former employee was furloughed, the furloughed employee will be notified of the vacancy and be given the opportunity to apply. Non-application to a different category vacancy will not be considered a refusal of a position and the employee will not be dropped from the call back list.If a furloughed employee is hired to fill a vacancy in a different category and the starting rate of the new position is less than the rate the furloughed employee was receiving prior to separation, the employee will receive his/her prior rate.