Vacancy, Demotion, Retreat, and Seniority. When the City has determined that a regular employee is to be laid off, the City Manager shall first demote the regular employee (based upon seniority within the class at the City of Pinole) to a regular position vacancy, if any, in a lower class which the employee previously held. All persons so demoted shall have their names placed on a reinstatement list for a period of one year. Upon layoff, regular employees have the right to retreat to a lower class in accordance with this layoff policy. In order to retreat to a lower class an employee must have more seniority than at least one of the incumbents in the retreat class and request displacement action in writing to the Human Resources Director within seven (7) days of receipt of notice of layoff. An employee retreating to a lower class shall be placed at the salary step representing the least loss of pay. For purposes of layoff, seniority shall be defined as an employee’s tenure in a class. When an employee retreats to a lower class seniority for that class shall include the tenure of all higher classes. Seniority includes time accrued in regular full-time and regular part-time service. In this chapter, length of service for regular part-time employment is calculated on a pro-rata basis. Employment in a temporary appointment position does not count in calculating seniority.
