1. (a) An appointing authority shall first determine, by division, the job title(s) to be affected within the agency.
2. (b) Each employee whose position is in an affected job title shall be considered with other employees in the same job title within a division of an agency, as the term “division” is defined in RSA 21-G:5, VIII, in accordance with seniority, whether the employee is on duty or leave status, or receiving workers' compensation.
3. (c) Seniority for the purpose of layoff shall be the length of continuous full-time service with the state from the last date of hire to full-time service on the basis of years, months, and days of service including military leave pursuant to Per 701.02 except that any days, months, or years of leave without pay for educational, disciplinary, or personal reasons shall not be counted.
4. (d) Per diem, temporary fill-in, or probationary employees in a given job title within the same division of the agency shall be terminated due to any of the reasons listed in Per 1101.01 prior to laying off any permanent employees serving in the same job title within the same division of the agency.
5. (e) Except in instances of an individual possessing unique credentials that are necessary for the agency to carry out a legislated mandate, seniority shall govern the order of layoff.

6. (f) Prior to layoff, appointing authorities, with the assistance of the division of personnel, shall attempt to reassign an employee into a vacant position under the following conditions:

   1. (1) The reassignment does not result in a promotion;
   2. (2) The employee being reassigned qualifies for the vacant position; and
   3. (3) The employee being reassigned accepts the reassignment.
7. (g) If there is no vacancy into which an employee can be reassigned as provided in (f) above, or the employee does not accept the reassignment, an appointing authority shall attempt to demote an employee in lieu of layoff as long as the employee can be certified for the lower classification pursuant to Per 403.

8. (h) An appointing authority may demote an employee in lieu of layoff when:

   1. (1) Such demotion serves to protect the efficiency of the agency;
   2. (2) The demotion is to the highest available position below the employee’s current position within their job title: and
   3. (3) The employee being demoted accepts the demotion.
9. (i) If there is no vacancy into which an employee can be demoted as provided in (h) above, or the employee does not accept the demotion, an appointing authority shall issue a notification of layoff.

10. (j) Upon notification of layoff, an employee with 10 or more years of continuous full-time service may bump another employee within the same division of the agency as long as the following conditions are met:

    1. (1) The employee exercising bumping privileges has more seniority than the employee being bumped;
    2. (2) The employee being bumped has fewer than 10 years of continuous full-time service;
    3. (3) The employee exercising bumping privileges is certified pursuant to Per 405 for the position into which the employee will bump; and
    4. (4) The employee electing to bump another employee within the same division of the agency shall only be allowed to bump into a position having a lower starting pay band than the position from which they are being laid off.
11. (k) Within 10 working days of the date of notice of layoff, the employee electing to bump another employee within the agency division shall notify the appointing authority of the position into which they intend to bump. Failure to provide such notice within the 10 working day time limit shall result in the loss of the right to bump.

Source. #8738, eff 10-18-06; ss by #10817, eff 5-17-15; ss by #14132-B, eff 11-27-24; ss by #14436, eff 12-1-25, EXPIRES: 12-1-35