Iowa Code § 8A.402 — IA Code / Title I / Chapter 8A / Section 8A.402
State human resource management — responsibilities.
Status: in_force

(1) The department is the central agency responsible for state human resource management, including the following:

(1) (a) Policy and program development, workforce planning, and research.

(1) (b) Employment activities and transactions, including recruitment, examination, and certification of personnel seeking employment or promotion.

(1) (c) Compensation and benefits, including position classification, wages and salaries, and employee benefits. Employee benefits include, but are not limited to, group medical, dental, life, and long-term disability insurance, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, sick leave, deferred compensation, holidays and vacations, tuition reimbursement, and educational leaves.

(1) (d) Equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, and workforce diversity programs.

(1) (e) Education, training, and workforce development programs.

(1) (f) Personnel records and administration, including the audit of all personnel-related documents.

(1) (g) Employment relations, including the negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements on behalf of the executive branch of the state and its departments and agencies as provided in chapter 20. However, the state board of regents, for the purposes of implementing and administering collective bargaining pursuant to chapter 20, shall act as the exclusive representative of the state with respect to its faculty, scientific, and other professional staff.

(1) (h) The coordination and management of the state’s human resource information system, except as otherwise required for those employees governed by chapter 262.

(1) (i) The development and implementation of a plan to centralize the human resource management functions for state executive branch agencies within the department, except for institutions under the control of the state board of regents.

(2) The department, as it relates to the human resources of state government, shall do the following:

(2) (a) Establish and maintain a list of all employees in the executive branch of state government and set forth, as to each employee, the class title, pay, status, and other pertinent data. For employees governed by chapter 262, the director shall work collaboratively with the state board of regents to collect such information.

(2) (b) Foster and develop, in cooperation with appointing authorities and others, programs for the improvement of employee effectiveness, including training, safety, health, counseling, and welfare.

(2) (c) Encourage and exercise leadership in the development of effective personnel administration within the several state agencies, and make available the facilities of the department to this end.

(2) (d) The director may delegate any or all aspects of the recruitment, examination, and selection processes to an agency in the executive branch upon request by that agency. The director shall oversee all activities delegated to that agency.

(2) (e) Utilize appropriate persons, including officers and employees in the executive branch, to assist in the recruitment and examination of applicants for employment. These officers and employees are not entitled to extra pay for their services, but shall be paid their necessary traveling and other expenses.

(2) (f) Develop, in consultation with the department of veterans affairs, programs to inform state employees who are members of the national guard or organized reserves of the armed forces of the United States, and their families, of their rights and benefits while the member is deployed in federal active duty.

(2) (f) Develop, in consultation with the department of veterans affairs and the department of workforce development, programs to inform members of the national guard or organized reserves of the armed forces of the United States returning to Iowa following federal active duty about job opportunities in state government.

(2) (f) Develop, in consultation with the department of veterans affairs, the department of education, the department of workforce development, the United States department of veterans affairs, and the United States department of labor, the following:

(2) (f) Programs to inform disabled veterans returning to the state after federal active duty about federally funded job training opportunities in state government, pursuant to 38 U.S.C. ch. 31.

(2) (f) State government job training programs for disabled veterans that qualify for federal funding from the United States department of veterans affairs.

(2) (f) A noncompetitive hiring program for disabled veterans who satisfactorily complete a federally funded job training program approved by the United States department of veterans affairs. The disabled veteran shall have trained in the class of positions for which the disabled veteran is to be noncompetitively appointed.

(2) (g) Consult with the department of management and discuss and collaborate with executive branch agencies to implement and maintain a policy for incrementally increasing the aggregate ratio in the number of employees per supervisory employee in executive branch agencies. For purposes of determining the effects of the policy on the state employee workforce, the base date of July 1, 2008, shall be used and the target date for full implementation shall be July 1, 2011. The target aggregate ratio of supervisory employees to other employees shall be as follows:

(2) (g) For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010, one to fourteen.

(2) (g) For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, one to fifteen.

(2) (g) For the purposes of this paragraph “g”, “supervisory employee” means a public employee who is not a member of a collective bargaining unit and who has authority, in the interest of a public employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other public employees, to direct such public employees, or to adjust the grievances of such public employees, or to effectively recommend any such action.

(2) (g) In this paragraph “g”, executive branch agencies, except the department of public safety, shall not grant a supervisory employee the right to replace or bump a junior employee not being laid off for a position for which the supervisory employee is qualified.

(2) (g) The policy shall allow appropriation units with twenty-eight or fewer full-time equivalent employee positions to apply for an exception to the policy through the executive council. The policy shall allow for exceptions when the supervisory employee ratio is mandated by a federal requirement.

(2) (g) Beginning July 1, 2011, the policy shall allow a director of an executive branch agency who believes that the agency will not be able to reach the applicable target aggregate ratio to apply for a waiver of that requirement through a five-person review board. In applying for a waiver, the director shall provide detailed documentation to the board describing the efforts that the executive branch agency has made in attempting to meet the applicable target aggregate ratio provided in this paragraph “g”. The review board shall consist of the director of the department of management or a designee of the director, three agency directors or the designees of those directors as designated by the governor, and one public member selected by the employee organization representing the greatest number of executive branch employees. However, if a department represented on the review board seeks a waiver, the member representing the department shall not participate in the decision on whether to grant a waiver for that department.

(2) (g) Prior to determining whether to grant a waiver, the review board shall make an initial determination of whether the executive branch agency has provided sufficient information to conduct a review. If not, the review board shall deny the request and notify the executive branch agency of the information needed to consider the request for waiver. If a waiver is granted, the review board shall limit the waiver to only those operations within an executive branch agency in which adequate justification for granting a waiver has been established.

(2) (g) The policy shall provide that if layoffs are implemented, the number of middle management position layoffs shall correspond to the relative number of direct service position layoffs.

(2) (g) The policy shall improve on the system in effect as of the base date by specifically defining and accounting for supervisory employee span of control.

(2) (g) The policy shall provide that in calculating the span of control ratio for an executive branch agency, unfunded full-time equivalent positions shall not be utilized.

(2) (g) The department shall present an interim report to the governor and general assembly on or before April 1, 2010, annual updates on or before April 1 subsequently, and a final report on or before April 1, 2012, detailing the effects of the policy on the composition of the workforce, cost savings, government efficiency, and outcomes.

(2) (g) The policy developed pursuant to this paragraph “g” shall not encompass employees under the state board of regents.

(2) (g) Evaluate the state’s systems for job classification of executive branch employees in order to ensure the existence of technical skill-based career paths for such employees which do not depend upon an employee gaining supervisory responsibility for advancement, and which provide incentives for such employees to broaden their knowledge and skill base. The evaluation shall include but is not limited to a review of the classifications for all positions and providing options for eliminating obsolete, duplicative, or unnecessary job classifications. The department shall present interim reports to the general assembly on or before January 15, 2010, and January 14, 2011, concerning the department’s progress in completing the evaluation and associated outcomes.

(3) The human resource management powers and duties of the department do not extend to the legislative branch or the judicial branch of state government, except for functions related to administering compensation and benefit programs.

2003 Acts, ch 145, §58; 2004 Acts, ch 1086, §7; 2008 Acts, ch 1184, §33; 2009 Acts, ch 179, §27; 2010 Acts, ch 1031, §67, 69; 2010 Acts, ch 1171, §1; 2010 Acts, ch 1174, §1; 2012 Acts, ch 1072, §3, 4; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §2; 2013 Acts, ch 129, §38