Minnesota Session Laws - 1983, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1983 

                        CHAPTER 145--S.F.No. 568
           An act relating to state government; providing for a 
          permanent job sharing program; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1982, sections 43A.41, subdivisions 4 and 5; 
          43A.42; 43A.43, subdivision 2; 43A.44, subdivisions 1 
          and 2; 43A.45; Laws 1981, chapter 210, section 55, as 
          amended; repealing Minnesota Statutes 1982, sections 
          43A.41, subdivision 3; and 43A.43, subdivision 1. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.41, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4.  [SHARED POSITION.] "Shared position" means a 
position which has been converted from a full-time position into 
part-time positions of equivalent class which are in the same 
classification series and bargaining unit or plan for purposes 
of sections 43A.40 to 43A.46. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.41, 
subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [PROGRAM.] "Program" means the Minnesota 
demonstration job sharing program.  
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.42, is 
amended to read: 
    43A.42 [POSITIONS AFFECTED.] 
    A total of 50 full-time positions within agencies of state 
government shall be selected for inclusion within the program.  
These positions shall be selected within as few separate 
agencies as possible.  No fewer than 15 of these positions shall 
be either professional, supervisory or managerial positions.  In 
no instance shall a person in a shared time position work less 
than 40 percent time.  No position shall be selected if it is 
contained in a unit which is represented by an exclusive 
representative which has a collective bargaining agreement 
covering the unit unless the exclusive representative agrees to 
the selection.  All shared time positions shall be equivalent in 
classification to the full-time position from which they are 
converted. 
     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.43, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [DUTIES AND POWERS.] The coordinator commissioner 
shall have the following powers and duties to:  
    (a) Select, in cooperation with the affected agencies and 
the commissioner, the agencies and, the positions within the 
agencies to be included in the program;  
    (b) Design and implement, in cooperation with the affected 
agencies and the commissioner, an evaluation plan for the 
program, in accordance with accepted research criteria, to 
ascertain the effect of job sharing on employee satisfaction, 
productivity, absenteeism, administrative and supervisory time 
demands, and increased costs both direct and indirect, as well 
as any other relevant impact on employer or employee;  
    (c) (b) Coordinate the conversion of full-time to shared 
positions in the affected agencies and to assist in the design 
of the shared positions, with attention to employee and employer 
needs and to the potential for replicability of the program 
experience in other agencies throughout state government.  All 
shared positions shall be equivalent in classification to the 
full-time position from which they are converted;  
    (d) (c) Assist the affected agencies and the commissioner 
in recruitment, selection and hiring for the affected positions; 
    (e) (d) Assist both supervisors and employees in the 
affected agencies in the transition to shared positions under 
the program and to recommend to the commissioner any 
modifications in rules, executive authority or statutes deemed 
desirable to effectuate the purposes of sections 43A.40 to 
43A.46; and 
    (f) (e) Monitor the positions selected pursuant to section 
43A.41, in cooperation with the affected agencies and the 
commissioner, throughout the term of the program; and 
    (g) Assist the commissioner in reporting to the governor 
and the legislature on January 1, 1981 and January 1, 1982.  The 
commissioner's report shall provide an evaluation of the 
experience of the program, with attention to the items listed in 
clause (b) in addition to any other relevant information, and 
shall offer recommendations concerning the further increase of 
shared positions in the state service.  
     Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.44, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [SALARIES; CLASS.] A position selected by 
the coordinator commissioner pursuant to section 43A.43 shall be 
divided into shared positions to be paid at the rate of the 
appropriate shared time percent of the otherwise appropriate 
salary.  The classification of a shared position shall be the 
same as that applicable to the full-time position from which it 
is converted.  
     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.44, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [BENEFITS.] Employees in shared positions shall 
be eligible for the following benefits and subject to the 
following obligations: 
    (a) Membership in the Minnesota state retirement system, 
the teachers retirement association or the state patrol 
retirement fund, whichever is appropriate, except that, 
notwithstanding any provision of section 352.01, subdivisions 11 
and 16; 352B.01, subdivision 3; 354.05, subdivisions 13 and 25; 
or 354.091, employees shall have allowable service for the 
purpose of meeting the minimum service requirements for 
eligibility to a retirement annuity or other retirement benefit 
credited in full, but shall have benefit accrual service for the 
purpose of computing a retirement annuity or other retirement 
benefit credited on a fractional basis either weekly or annually 
based upon the relationship that the number of hours of service 
bears to either 40 hours per week or 2,080 hours per year, with 
any salary paid for the fractional service credited on the basis 
of the rate of salary applicable for a full-time week or a 
full-time year.  
    (b) Vacation and sick leave accrual at the rate of the 
appropriate shared time percent of the entitlement of comparable 
full-time employees accruals shall be prorated in accordance 
with the pertinent collective bargaining agreement or plan 
covering the position; 
    (c) Employee dental, medical and hospital benefits coverage 
shall be available of the same type and coverage afforded to 
comparable full-time employees.  Employees in shared positions 
who elect such coverage shall pay, by payroll deduction, the 
difference between the actual cost to the employer and the 
appropriate shared time percent of the actual cost.  The 
remaining percent shall be paid by the employer.  Employee life 
insurance coverage shall be available to employees in shared 
positions on the same terms as for comparable full-time 
employees; 
    (d) Dependent life insurance coverage shall be available to 
employees in shared positions on the same terms as for 
comparable full-time employees.  Dependent medical, hospital and 
dental benefits coverage shall be available to employees in 
shared positions of the same type and coverage afforded to 
comparable full-time employees, except that the employer shall 
contribute the appropriate shared time percent of the dollar 
amount contributed for comparable full-time employees electing 
the same program, the remainder to be paid by payroll deduction 
by the employee electing such coverage; 
    (e) Employees in shared positions shall be entitled to the 
appropriate shared time percent of the holiday pay to which 
comparable full-time employees are entitled for holidays 
observed by the full-time employees whenever the employee in a 
shared position would otherwise be scheduled to work on that 
day.  The employee may be allowed to reschedule working hours to 
avoid any loss in pay due to the prorating of holiday pay.  When 
an employee in a shared position is not scheduled to work on an 
observed holiday, the next scheduled working day shall be 
treated as the holiday prorated holiday provisions of the 
applicable collective bargaining agreement or plan covering the 
position; 
    (f) Employees in shared positions shall accrue seniority 
time in every relevant category at the same rate accorded to 
comparable full-time employees. No full-time employee accepting 
a shared position shall suffer any loss of or gap in seniority 
time in the relevant categories applicable to the full-time 
employment; and 
    (g) Any other benefits of employment for employees in 
shared positions shall be prorated at a rate of the appropriate 
shared time percent of those available to comparable full-time 
employees, whenever the benefits are divisible.  Contributions 
by the employer toward the benefits, if any, shall be equal to 
the appropriate shared time percent of the full-time benefits.  
When not divisible, the cost of the full-time benefits normally 
allocable to the employer shall be allocated, the appropriate 
shared time percent to the employee in a shared position, by 
payroll deduction, and the remaining percent to the employer. 
     Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1982, section 43A.45, is 
amended to read: 
    43A.45 [ACCEPTANCE OF SHARED POSITIONS.] 
    No employee holding a full-time or three-quarter time 
position on July 1, 1980 shall be required to accept a shared 
position pursuant to sections 43A.40 to 43A.46.  
    Sec. 8.  Laws 1981, chapter 210, section 55, as amended by 
Laws 1982, chapter 560, section 61, is amended to read:  
    Sec. 55.  [REPEALER.] 
    Minnesota Statutes 1980, chapter 43, is repealed.  Sections 
40 to 46 are repealed effective December 31, 1983.  
     Sec. 9.  [REPEALER.] 
     Minnesota Statutes 1982, sections 43A.41, subdivision 3; 
and 43A.43, subdivision 1, are repealed. 
    Approved May 17, 1983