North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 25 - STATE HUMAN RESOURCES › Chapter 01 - OFFICE OF STATE HUMAN RESOURCES › Subchapter I - SERVICE TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT › Section .2000 - APPOINTMENT AND SEPARATION › Section 01I .2005 - SEPARATION

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
Separation occurs when an employee leaves the payroll for
					 reasons indicated in this Rule or because of death. Employees who have acquired
					 permanent status are not subject to involuntary separation or suspension except
					 for cause or reduction-in-force. The following are types of separation:
(1) Resignation or Retirement. An employee
				  may terminate his services with the agency by submitting a resignation or
				  request for retirement to the appointing authority at least two weeks prior to
				  his last day of work;
(2)
				  Dismissal. Dismissal is involuntary separation for cause, and shall be made in
				  accordance with the provisions of
				  25 NCAC
				  01I.2300 Disciplinary Action: Suspension,
				  Dismissal and Appeals;
(3)
				  Reduction-in-Force. For reasons of curtailment of work, reorganization, or lack
				  of funds the appointing authority may separate employees. Retention of
				  employees in classes affected shall be based on systematic consideration of
				  type of appointment, length of service, and relative efficiency. No permanent
				  employee shall be separated while there are emergency, intermittent, temporary,
				  probationary, or trainee employees in their first six months of the trainee
				  progression serving in the same or related class, unless the permanent employee
				  is not willing to transfer to the position held by the non-permanent employee,
				  or the permanent employee does not have the knowledge and skills required to
				  perform the work of the alternate position within a reasonable period of
				  orientation and training given any new employee. A permanent employee who was
				  separated by reduction-in-force may be reinstated at any time in the future
				  that suitable employment becomes available. The employer may choose to offer
				  employment with a probationary appointment. The employee must meet the current
				  minimum education and experience standard for the class to which he is being
				  appointed;
(4) Voluntary
				  Resignation Without Notice. An employee who is absent from work and does not
				  contact the employer for three consecutive workdays may be separated from
				  employment as a voluntary resignation. Such separations create no right of
				  grievance or appeal pursuant to the State Human Resources Act (G.S. Chapter
				  126). A factor to be considered when determining whether the employee should be
				  deemed to have voluntarily resigned is the employee's culpability in failing to
				  contact his or her employer; and
(5) Separation Due to Unavailability When
				  Leave is Exhausted. An employee may be separated on the basis of unavailability
				  when the employee becomes or remains unavailable for work after all applicable
				  leave credits and benefits have been exhausted and agency management does not
				  grant a leave without pay. Prior to separation the employing agency shall
				  notify the employee in writing of the proposed separation, the efforts
				  undertaken to avoid separation and why the efforts were unsuccessful. The
				  employing agency must also give the employee a letter of separation stating the
				  specific reasons for the separation and setting forth the employee's right of
				  appeal. Such a separation is an involuntary separation, and not a disciplinary
				  dismissal as described in
				  G.S.
				  126-35, and may be grieved or appealed. The
				  burden of proof on the agency in the event of a grievance is not just cause as
				  that term exists in
				  G.S.
				  126-35. Rather, the agency's burden is to
				  prove that the employee was unavailable, that reasonable efforts were
				  undertaken to avoid separation, and the reason the efforts were
				  unsuccessful.
(6) Definitions:
(a) Unavailability is defined as the
				  employee's inability to return to all of the position's essential duties and
				  work schedule due to a medical condition or the vagueness of a medical
				  prognosis; or the employee and the agency cannot reach agreement on a return to
				  work arrangement that meets both the needs of the agency and the employee's
				  medical condition; and
(b)
				  Applicable leave credits is defined as the sick, vacation and bonus leave the
				  employee chose to exhaust prior to going on leave without pay.