Policy Text
Page 1 of 4 12/05 (REV 3/19)
Seniority
The purpose of this General Order i s to define Department Senio rity criteria and the
process for its determination and to document how seniority dat a is disseminated and
retained. I. Scope
This General Order applies to all employees appointed to positi ons in the
Sheriff’s Department on or after February 14, 2010.
II. Definitions
Basic Recruit
Academy Final Academic Average (Academic Score) The final average score in P.O.S.T. Learning Domain
written tests achieved by i ndividuals who successfully
complete a POST Basic Recruit Academy as reported on the Class Rank Report.
Break in Service A period of abs ence from County service and be ing
rehired or reinstated.
Class Date The date an employee fi rst was appointed to the job class,
on or after the most recent date of entry into County
service, regardless of type of appointment, including but
not limited to provisional, limited-term, temporary, and
exempt.
Continuous County
Service A period of employment with the County of Sacramento
without any break(s) in service.
County Hire Date The most recent date of entry into County serv ice,
regardless of type of appointment , including but not limited
to provisional, limited-te rm, temporary, and exempt.
Department Seniority Without a Br eak in Service: An employee’s standing
relative to other employees in the same job class with
consideration for prior Coun ty service in the same job
class. With a Break in Service: An employee’s standing relative
to other employees in the same job class with
Page 2 of 4 12/05 (REV 3/19) consideration for County servic e prior to the current period
of continuous service. In o rder for the prior County
service to be considered, the current period of continuous service must be the result o f Reinstatement to the same
job class.
Seniority is represented by a date and Tiebreaker if
necessary.
Layoff The involuntary terminat ion from a class of a permanent
or probationary employee wit hout fault on the part of the
employee because of lack of wor k, lack of funds, or in the
interest of economy.
Layoff/Reemployment
Seniority An employee’s standing relative to other employees in the
same job class without consideration for County service
prior to the current period of c ontinuous service; seniority
is represented by a date, and Tiebreaker if necessary.
Layoff/Reemployment Seniority is determined by the Department of Personnel Service s; it is not determined or
maintained by the Sheriff’s Department. Layoff/Reemployment Seniority for specific labor groups (005/008) is determined by crite ria set forth in applicable
Labor Agreements, the Personne l Ordinance, and County
Policy #840 Layoff Process and Reemployment.
Reemployment Appointment of an i ndividual who was laid off; all
reemployment appointments r equire use of Departmental
Reemployment and/or Count y Reemployment Lists.
Rehire A return to County serv ice generally outside the three-
year reinstatement period . Rehire appointments must be
made from a current County Eligible List.
Reinstatement A return to County service within three years of separation
to the same or lower job cla ss. Reinstatement is at the
discretion of the A ppointing Authority and does not require
use of an Eligible List.
Tiebreaker A numeric indicator, i .e., 1, 2, 3, establishing sen iority
between two or more employ ees with the same Class
Date, with 1 being the most senior.
Page 3 of 4 12/05 (REV 3/19) III. Uses for Seniority
A. Layoff/Reemployment Seniority is used to determine the order in which
employees will be laid off and reemployed.
B. Department Seniority is used to:
1. Prioritize requests for annual vacation and make shift assig nments
within a Work Unit.
2. Prioritize bids for assignments. 3. Determine appointment priorit ies for various assignments
throughout the Department.
IV. Seniority Determination
A. Layoff/Reemployment Seniority is determined by criteria set forth in
applicable Labor Agreements, the Personnel Ordinance, and Count y
Policy #840 Layoff Pro cess and Reemployment.
1. The Department of Personnel Services is responsible for
determining Layoff/Reemployme nt Seniority and preparing and
providing Official Seniorit y Lists to the Department.
B. Department Seniority is dete rmined by Human Resources staff using the
criteria indicated in the following table.
1
st Criterion Class Date; if there ar e two or more employees with the same
date, the 2nd Criterion is used to break the tie.
Note : The Class Date is adjusted to g ive credit for prior County
service in the same class to cur rent employees and individuals
who separated from servi ce and are Reinstated.
2nd Criterion County Hire Date; if t here are two or more employees with the
same County Hire Date, or if t he Class Date and the County Hire
Date are the same, the 3rd Criterion is used to break the tie.
3rd Criterion Rank on Eligible L ist from which the appointments to the
applicable class were made; if ther e are two or more employees
with the same Rank, the 4th Criterion (for Deputy Sheriff class
only)