Opinion ID: 2447396
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Revision of section 17751(3)

Text: [¶ 15] In 1992, the Legislature responded to the System's revision of Rule 401 by amending section 17751(3). See P.L. 1991, ch. 878, § 1 (effective June 30, 1992). Before its amendment, section 17751(3) simply directed the Board to determine by appropriate rules how much service in any year qualifies for one year's service credit with a single limitation: Service rendered for the full normal working time in any year qualifies for one year's service credit. See 5 M.R.S.A. § 17751(3) (1989). The amended section 17751(3) grandfathered the 1000-hour employees hired before July 1991, affording them the same full year of creditable service that they had received under the original Rule 401: The board shall provide in its rule related to the determination of creditable service for state employees that any part-time or seasonal state employee who was employed during the period beginning January 1, 1989 and ending June 30, 1991 is credited with a full year of creditable service for each year in which that employee is employed for 1,000 or more hours, for as long as that employee is employed by the State. 5 M.R.S. § 17751(3). The bill's Statement of Fact specified that the bill restores the method of calculating annual service credit to certain part-time, seasonal, intermittent or legislative employees in effect prior to July 1, 1991. L.D. 2008, Statement of Fact (115th Legis. 1992). Thus, section 17751(3)'s legislative history reflects that the statutory revision was intended to protect seasonal and part-time employees who had previously enjoyed a full year of creditable service for each year they worked an average of 1000 hours. [¶ 16] Accordingly, the revision of section 17751(3) did no more than prohibit the System from applying its revised Rule 401(2-A) to part-time 1000-hour employees hired before July 1, 1991. The revision assured that this specific class of employees would continue to receive a full year of creditable service as they had received under the original Rule 401. The revision did not otherwise disturb the System's long-standing approach to assigning and determining creditable service based on each employee's position classification. The System's continued reliance on a position-based classification system for purposes of determining an employee's annual entitlement to creditable service is consistent with the applicable statute, and its interpretation of the term part-time employee is entitled to deference.