TO:HR Directors
FROM:Penni Miller, Director
Classification and Salary Division
RE:Class Reconsideration Requests and Employee Appeals
DATE:March 1, 2011
Since the consolidation of classification, the Classification and Salary Division (CAS) has received numerous requests for reconsiderations of class determinations. This memorandum is a clarification on the agency reconsideration requests process.
Whenever a job evaluation study results in a class confirm or less than requested, CAS will include a copy of the study memorandum along with a letter from the class analyst informing the agency human resources manager of the study results. We ask that the agency human resources staff notify the employee immediately of the decision and provide the employee a copy of the study memorandum. It is our hope that a copy of the study memorandum may help the employee understand the rationale for the decision and may prevent the filing of a grievance.
Upon review of the study memorandum, if agency management believes that the position’s duties were not clearly understood in the job evaluation study then agency management, via the agency human resources manager, may provide clarification on the position’s duties.
A reconsideration request is considered to be a request from agency management as a single organization or entity and is a courtesy that DBM management extends to agency management. Generally, a reconsideration request is a one time only request.
A reconsideration request only involves clarification of the position’s duties and responsibilities that were indicated on the position description form submitted with the reclass request.
A reconsideration request should not include new information or involve a revised position description form.
A reconsideration request should not include a new or revised study memo or application of the job evaluation standards by non-human resources agency staff (including the employee’s supervisor or manager).
Please keep in mind that the reconsideration process is not an alternative for the employee grievance process. The State Personnel and Pensions Article §12-203 provides that an employee may initiate a grievance proceeding by filing a written grievance with the agency appointing authority within 20 days after being notified of the class determination.
An agency’s request for reconsideration should never delay an employee’s right to file a grievance over the class decision. Agency human resources staff should not tell employees to wait until there has been a response to the reconsideration before filing a grievance over the class decision. The grievance can always be withdrawn if the reconsideration request results in a change in the class determination. On the other hand, if the reconsideration request is denied the delay in the employee filing a grievance may impact the effective date of any decision by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Reconsideration requests are to be submitted to CAS no later than three weeks from the date of the correspondence from CAS informing the agency human resources staff of the class decision. The reasons for the three week timeframe are:
1) impact to the requested effective date if reconsideration results in a change in the class determination; and 2) too much time between the original study and reconsideration request can blur any distinction between
current and previous duties.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your class team liaison.