Name that Section - Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Name that Section: Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Case Studies Regarding Layoff Of Classified Employees:

California School Employees Assn. v. Governing Bd. of East Side Union High

School Dist.

The District hired Bernice Singer in a School Community Liaison (SCL)

position in November 1989. Singer served a six-month probationary period and

became a permanent employee in May 1990. In March 2008, the District

decided to eliminate all its SCL positions due to lack of funds and laid off

Singer. Singer then obtained a position as a Campus Monitor, which was a

different class than the liaison position. The District informed Singer that she

would be “on a probationary status” for the first six months. Before serving six

months in the position, the District released Singer from the Campus Monitor

position. Singer and CSEA filed a writ of mandate seeking reinstatement on the

ground that Singer was not a probationary employee in the CM position, but a

permanent employee, and therefore had statutory and due process rights, which

the District violated by terminating her without notice, cause, or a hearing. The

Court found that classified employees only obtain permanence in the specific

classification in which they perform. When they are reemployed in a lower

classification, they become probationary employees.

Lawrence v. Hartnell Community College Dist.

The District temporarily reassigned a group of executive assistants to similar

positions for different District staff. The reassignments did not affect their job

classifications, titles, wages, or benefits and were not performance-related. The

assistants never reported to their new assignments and obtained doctors’ notes

stating without qualification that they were unable to return to work but could

return to their former jobs. The District held the new positions open for more

than five months and then informed the assistants in writing that their

entitlement to paid leave would be exhausted and that they would be released

from employment and placed on the 39-month reemployment list unless they

obtained written releases from their doctors and returned to work. The

assistants sued for violation of disability laws and for reinstatement to their

former positions. The Court found that the District had not demoted the

classified assistants by reassigning them. Moreover, the District had not

terminated them for cause, and thus, no right to due process or reinstatement

was triggered.

B. N

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LASSIFIED

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CADEMIC

MPLOYEES

Districts frequently have work to be done that is temporary in nature. For example, a permanent

employee may be out on a two-month leave. The District will need to hire a replacement

worker. Does the District have to hire an extra classified employee to cover for the worker on

leave? If the District were required to employ an additional classified worker, what would

happen at the end of two months? Might the District be forced to lay somebody off when the

permanent employee returns? Suppose the District has a particular project that will take four