Senate Bill No. 466-Committee on Government Affairs
June 13, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY--Provides leave without pay for certain public employees elected to office. (BDR 23-1792)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to public employees; providing for a leave of absence for certain public employees from classified or equivalent service during the term of an elected office; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 Chapter 281 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto a new section to read as follows:
1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, an employee in the classified service of the state or an employee in a merit system or a civil service system of a local government employer who is elected to a state or local office is entitled, upon his written request, to a leave of absence without pay for a period within his term of office which he designates in his original or a subsequent request. A public employer shall not suspend or discharge such an employee because of a request made pursuant to this section or the resulting leave of absence. The employee is entitled to reinstatement upon the same terms as other employees to whom a leave of absence without pay is granted.
2. An employee whose status in the classified service, merit system or civil service system is probationary must designate the period of his leave within 3 months after his election and, within 1 month after the completion of the term for which he was elected or reelected, must return to his employment and complete his probationary period. During the period of his leave of absence, he is not entitled to take any promotional examination.
3. The public employer may employ another person to fill the position of the employee to whom leave is granted, but at the end of the requested leave, if the employee who returns after a leave of absence requested pursuant to this section is not reinstated to his former position, the public employer must offer him an equivalent position.
4. The provisions of this section are not applicable to:
(a) Department heads of a state or local government.
(b) A county or city administrator or county or city manager.
(c) The employees in each department exempted under the provisions of NRS 245.216 from the provisions of NRS 245.213, 245.214 and 245.215, except that the provisions of this section apply to such an employee if he is elected to the state legislature.
(d) A person holding a temporary or provisional appointment, the duration of which does not exceed 6 months.
5. As used in this section, "local government employer" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 288.060.
Sec. 2 Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2 of section 1 of this act, a probationary employee who was elected to office at an election held on or before July 1, 1997, who meets all of the qualifications for a leave of absence pursuant to section 1 of this act except having made a request for the leave of absence within 3 months after the election, may request a leave of absence pursuant to section 1 of this act on or before October 1, 1997. The public employer shall comply with the provisions of section 1 of this act concerning any such request.
Sec. 3 This act becomes effective on July 1, 1997.