H103 - 2022 Appropriations Act. (SL 2022-74)

Overview: Section 8.4 of S.L. 2022-74 modifies the employment requirements that apply to personnel of Dental School Clinical Operations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and East Carolina University. Employees of both entities are deemed to be State employees and subject to relevant provisions of State law, including the following provisions of Chapter 126:

• Article 5 (Political Activity of Employees)
• Article 6 (Equal Employment and Compensation Opportunity; Assisting in Obtaining State Employment)
• Article 7 (The Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records)
• Article 14 (Protection for Reporting Improper Government Activities)

Except for the provisions described above, these employees are not subject to Chapter 126 of the General Statutes. Each entity's respective board of trustees is responsible for setting policies and procedures governing the terms and conditions of employment for these employees, including:

• Leave policies.
• Partial pay supplementing workers' compensation payments.
• Working conditions.
• Service awards and incentive award programs.
• Grounds for dismissal, demotion, or discipline.
• Other personnel policies or measures that promote the hiring and retention of capable, diligent, and effective career employees.
• Setting office hours, workdays, and holidays to be observed.
• Establishing boards, committees, or councils to conduct hearings upon the appeal of employees who have been suspended, demoted, otherwise disciplined, or discharged.

The board of trustees must submit initial classification and pay plans, as well as other rules and regulations, to the Office of State Human Resources for review.

Employees who achieve career State employee status by June 30, 2022, cannot have their compensation reduced by any rules or regulations adopted by the board of trustees pursuant to this authority. Additionally, these career status employees must be subject to the discipline or discharge rules that were effective on June 30, 2022, and not any rules adopted after that date.

This section became effective July 1, 2022.