GA Code § 37-2-6.2 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 37 - Mental Health|Chapter 2 - Administration of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Addictive Diseases, and Other Disability Services|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 37-2-6.2. Employees Whose Jobs Include Duties or Functions Which Became Duties or Functions of a Community Service Board on July 1, 1994; Rights, Duties, and Benefits of Employees

    Those employees whose job descriptions, duties, or functions as of June 30, 1994, included the performance of employment duties or functions which will become employment duties or functions of the personnel of a community service board on July 1, 1994, shall become employees of the applicable community service boards on and after July 1, 1994. Such employees shall be subject to the employment practices and policies of the applicable community service board on and after July 1, 1994. Employees who are subject to the rules of the State Personnel Board and who are transferred to a community service board shall retain all existing rights under such rules. Retirement rights of such transferred employees existing under the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia or other public retirement systems on June 30, 1994, shall not be impaired or interrupted by the transfer of such employees and membership in any such retirement system shall continue in the same status possessed by the transferred employees on June 30, 1994, without any interruption in membership service and without the loss of any creditable service. For purposes of coverage under the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia, such employees transferred to the community service boards on July 1, 1994, shall be deemed to be state employees. Accrued annual and sick leave possessed by said employees on June 30, 1994, shall be retained by said employees as employees of the community service board. Any person who is granted employment rights and benefits as a member of a community service board pursuant to this subsection and who later becomes employed, without any break in service, by the department, Department of Human Services, or Department of Public Health, a hospital thereof, another community service board, a county board of health for which such person provides services pursuant to this title, or a regional board shall retain, in that later employment position, all such rights and benefits. Such rights and benefits shall also be retained by any person who is employed on June 30, 1994, by the former Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases (now known as the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities) of the former Department of Human Resources, a hospital thereof, a county board of health for which such person provides services pursuant to this title, or a regional board and who later becomes employed, without any break in service, by a community service board.   Classified employees of a community service board under this chapter shall in all instances be employed and dismissed in accordance with rules and regulations of the State Personnel Board.   All rights, credits, and funds in the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia which are possessed by personnel transferred by provisions of this Code section to the community service boards are continued and preserved, it being the intention of the General Assembly that such persons shall not lose any rights, credits, or funds to which they may be entitled prior to becoming employees of the community service boards.     As to those persons employed by the former Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases (now known as the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities) of the former Department of Human Resources, a hospital thereof, or a regional board on June 30, 1994, any termination from state employment after that date of any such person who is a member of the classified service shall not result from the anticipated or actual employment or utilization by:   The department;   A regional board;   A community service board;   A hospital;   The Department of Human Services;   The Department of Public Health; or   Any private provider of disability services or health services of any person who is not an employee of the state or a political subdivision thereof to perform the duties and functions of such terminated state personnel unless such termination and utilization is the result of a reduction in appropriations for such duties or functions or is the result of a reduction in force caused by any other state department or agency which has ceased to contract with the department, the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Public Health for the services which had been provided by the terminated state personnel.       (Code 1981, §37-2-6.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 16; Ga. L. 1994, p. 437, § 6; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-7; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228; Ga. L. 2009, p. 745, § 2/SB 97; Ga. L. 2011, p. 705, § 6-3/HB 214; Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 2-59/HB 642.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1994, "boards" was substituted for "boards," at the first instance of that term in paragraph (a)(3).   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 18.1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to repeal any provision of Chapter 5 of Title 37 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, the 'Community Services Act for the Mentally Retarded.' "   Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 19, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1994; provided, however, that provisions relating to the establishment of regional and community service board boundaries and the appointments of regional boards and community service boards shall become effective on July 1, 1993, or upon whatever date is stipulated in the Act and provided, further, that the provisions authorizing a county board of health to agree to serve as the lead county board of health for only that county shall become effective upon the approval of this Act by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval." The Act was approved by the Governor on April 27, 1993.   Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which enacts this Code section, provides, in § 19.1, not codified by the General Assembly, that this Code section is repealed on June 30, 1999; however, Ga. L. 1998, p. 870, § 1, struck § 19.1 of Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, which would have repealed this Code section.   Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-1/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Personnel, equipment, and facilities that were assigned to the State Personnel Administration as of June 30, 2012, shall be transferred to the Department of Administrative Services on the effective date of this Act." This Act became effective July 1, 2012.   Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-2/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Appropriations for functions which are transferred by this Act may be transferred as provided in Code Section 45-12-90."   Law reviews.   - For article on the 2011 amendment of this Code section, see 28 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 147 (2011).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Director of a community service board is covered under the State of Georgia Merit Protection System.    - Summary judgment for community service board on a former executive director's breach of employment contract claim was reversed because the trial court erred in determining that the director was an official instead of an employee under the State of Georgia Merit Protection System; under O.C.G.A. §§ 37-2-6.1(b)(7) and37-2-6.2, the board was a state agency when the board terminated the director, and the director was a classified employee in a covered position under the State Merit Protection System, O.C.G.A. § 45-20-2(2) and (6). Ashe v. Clayton County Cmty. Serv. Bd., 262 Ga. App. 738, 586 S.E.2d 683 (2003)(Unpublished).