Opinion ID: 1288529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Susan's Claims

Text: Susan also contends that, under section 9.2 of the Manual, she should not have been terminated. As with Douglas, whether Susan was protected by the provisions of the Manual depends, in part, on whether she fell within the civil service system. On review, the Board determined that Susan was a professional employee, and that she was therefore excluded from the civil service plan and from the protections of the Manual by section 29(13) of the Act. The district court also found Susan to be a professional employee, and thereby excluded from the civil service system. Although evidence was presented at the grievance hearing indicating Susan was considered by AAWC personnel to be a professional employee, we are not bound by any administrative or bureaucratic label affixed by the AAWC. Instead, we must examine section 29(13) to determine whether a person in Susan's position was meant by the Legislature to be included within the definition of one who provides professional services. We conclude that Susan was not a professional employee within the meaning of section 29(13). [2] She had no special skills which she brought to the job. She moved into the Properties department from her position as a secretary. She did not have a college degree, a special license, or any formal certification. If she were considered to have been employed to render professional, scientific, technical or expert service[s], then every mid-level employee of the AAWC would be exempt from the civil service system, as Susan had absolutely no special or professional skills. NRS 89.020(4) defines professional service as any type of personal service which may legally be performed only pursuant to a license, certificate of registration or other legal authorization. This definition seems consistent with section 29(13), which groups professional services with such other specialized skills as scientific, technical, or expert services. We conclude that section 29(13) was intended to exclude from the civil service system persons acting more as consultants than regular employees, and that Susan in no way fit within the civil service exemption in section 29(13). Therefore, the civil service protections encompassed within the Manual apply to Susan. Since we conclude that Susan fell within the civil service system, we must determine whether section 9.2 of the Manual entitled her to an interdepartmental transfer in lieu of termination. Susan contends that, under section 9.2 of the Manual, she could not be terminated prior to a probationary employee in Properties, who also had less seniority. The AAWC asserts that section 9.2 does not apply here because Susan's classification within Properties was one step below the other three employees in the department. Since section 9.2 only provides for termination in inverse order of seniority within a job classification and for initial termination of probationary employees within a job classification, the AAWC argues that Susan was not entitled to have anybody terminated before herself. The Board concluded that Susan's position in Properties was of a different classification than the other three Properties positions, and it stated, Even if civil service rules apply, [Susan] Clements' job classification was eliminated, thus giving her no `bumping rights' under the layoff procedure in section 9.2 of the Manual. The district court reached the same conclusion. Prior to the reorganization, Properties maintained four staff positions: two Property Management Analysts, a Property Acquisition Specialist, and Susan's position of Advertising/Marketing Specialist. The reorganization left Properties with three staff positions under a single job description of Property Administrator, which encompassed the duties of the former positions under the titles Property Administrator, Property Administrator/Advertising, and Property Administrator/Acquisition. The functions of the Properties department did not change with the reorganization. The issue becomes whether all four positions in the Properties department prior to reorganization were in the same AAWC job classification, or whether Susan's position as Advertising/Marketing Specialist was of a different classification than the other three positions. Manual section 1.11 states, in pertinent part: Position classification is a process of identifying and describing the different kinds of work being performed in an organization and allocating jobs into classes based on similar or like duties, responsibilities and qualification requirements. Evidence was received at Susan's grievance hearing that the written duties, responsibilities, and qualifications of the four Properties positions, including Susan's, were similar, and that Susan was capable of performing most if not all of the duties in the property management area. The same pay scale was also used for all four Properties positions. The Chief of Properties, Susan's immediate supervisor, testified that the Property Management Analyst and the Advertising/Marketing Specialist were within the same job classification. Furthermore, while the AAWC argued that the Advertising/Marketing Specialist position was separate and distinct from the rest of Properties, Susan was being cross-trained to perform all of the duties within the Properties department. Evidence was also received at the grievance hearing that, following reorganization, Susan was qualified to be a Property Administrator, and that 99.9 percent of the work formerly done by Susan was done within the new Properties department. The fact that the newly created position of Property Administrator was meant to encompass all four of the previous Properties positions in a single job also indicates that Susan's position was not significantly different from the others. In sum, there was not substantial evidence to support the Board's determination that Susan's job classification was different from that of the other three employees in Properties. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that all the positions within the Properties department were of the same job classification. Accordingly, pursuant to Manual section 9.2, the probationary employee with less seniority should have been terminated prior to Susan, and Susan should have been offered one of the newly created Property Administrator positions. We reach the same conclusion concerning Susan's claim of retaliatory firing as we did with Douglas's similar assertion and conclude that it is without merit.