Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5501.20 – Department of transportation business plan

(A) As used in this section:
1. (1) "Career professional service" means that part of the competitive classified service that consists of employees of the department of transportation who, regardless of job classification, meet both of the following qualifications:
  1. (a) They are supervisors, professional employees who are not in a collective bargaining unit, confidential employees, or management level employees, all as defined in section 4117.01 of the Revised Code.
  2. (b) They exercise authority that is not merely routine or clerical in nature and report only to a higher level unclassified employee or employee in the career professional service.
2. (2) "Demoted" means that an employee is placed in a position where the employee's wage rate equals, or is not more than twenty per cent less than, the employee's wage rate immediately prior to demotion or where the employee's job responsibilities are reduced, or both.
3. (3) "Employee in the career professional service with restoration rights" means an employee in the career professional service who has been in the classified civil service for at least two years and who has a cumulative total of at least ten years of continuous service with the department of transportation.
(B) Not later than the first day of July of each odd-numbered year, the director of transportation shall adopt a rule in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code that establishes a business plan for the department of transportation that states the department's mission, business objectives, and strategies and that establishes a procedure by which employees in the career professional service will be held accountable for their performance. The director shall adopt a rule that establishes a business plan for the department only once in each two years. Within sixty days after the effective date of a rule that establishes a business plan for the department, the director shall adopt a rule in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code that identifies specific positions within the department of transportation that are included in the career professional service. The director may amend the rule that identifies the specific positions included in the career professional service whenever the director determines necessary. Any rule adopted under this division is subject to review and invalidation by the joint committee on agency rule review as provided in division (D) of section 111.15 of the Revised Code. The director shall provide a copy of any rule adopted under this division to the director of budget and management. Except as otherwise provided in this section, an employee in the career professional service is subject to the provisions of Chapter 124. of the Revised Code that govern employees in the classified civil service.
(C) After an employee is appointed to a position in the career professional service, the employee's direct supervisor shall provide the employee appointed to that position with a written performance action plan that describes the department's expectations for that employee in fulfilling the mission, business objectives, and strategies stated in the department's business plan. No sooner than four months after being appointed to a position in the career professional service, an employee appointed to that position shall receive a written performance review based on the employee's fulfillment of the mission, business objectives, and strategies stated in the department's business plan. After the initial performance review, the employee shall receive a written performance review at least once each year or as often as the director considers necessary. The department shall give an employee whose performance is unsatisfactory an opportunity to improve performance for a period of at least six months, by means of a written corrective action plan, before the department takes any disciplinary action under this section or section 124.34 of the Revised Code. The department shall base its performance review forms on its business plan.
(D) An employee in the career professional service may be suspended, demoted, or removed because of performance that hinders or restricts the fulfillment of the department's business plan or for disciplinary reasons under section 124.34 or 124.57 of the Revised Code. An employee in the career professional service may appeal only the employee's removal to the state personnel board of review. An employee in the career professional service may appeal a demotion or a suspension of more than three days pursuant to rules the director adopts in accordance with section 111.15 of the Revised Code.
(E) An employee in the career professional service with restoration rights has restoration rights if demoted because of performance that hinders or restricts fulfillment of the mission, business objectives, or strategies stated in the department's business plan, but not if involuntarily demoted or removed for any of the reasons described in section 124.34 or for a violation of section 124.57 of the Revised Code. The director shall demote an employee who has restoration rights of that nature to a position in the classified service that in the director's judgment is similar in nature to the position the employee held immediately prior to being appointed to the position in the career professional service. The director shall assign to an employee who is demoted to a position in the classified service as provided in this division a wage rate that equals, or that is not more than twenty per cent less than, the wage rate assigned to the employee in the career professional service immediately prior to the employee's demotion.