BRIEF

Policy Summary

Berkeley Lab Career employees who have been involuntarily laid off may be eligible to elect either:

• The right to be recalled to the division from which the employee was laid off or the right for preference for re-employment at Berkeley Lab, or
• Severance pay in accordance with the Severance policy.

For information about layoffs, read the Reduction in Force policy.

Who Should Read This Policy

• This policy applies to non-probationary Career employees who have been involuntarily laid off and have elected the right to recall or preference for re-employment (instead of severance pay) or have been involuntarily reduced in time.
• This policy applies to non-represented employees. Represented employees should consult their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
• This policy does not apply to Career employees in Upper Laboratory Management positions. Those employees should consult the Appointments, Upper Laboratory Management policy.
• This policy does not apply to employees on Temporary Work Deferment status (See the Work Deferment policy).

To Read the Full Policy, Go To:

The POLICY tab on this wiki page

Contact Information

For more information, contact your division's HR Field team.
Feedback on HR policies or procedures is welcomed. Send comments to HRpolicies@lbl.gov.

POLICY

A. Purpose

Berkeley Lab Career employees who have been involuntarily laid off may be eligible to elect either:

• The right to be recalled to the division from which the employee was laid off or the right for preference for re-employment at Berkeley Lab, or
• Severance pay in accordance with the Severance policy.

For information about layoffs, read the Reduction in Force policy.

B. Persons Affected

• This policy applies to non-probationary Career employees who have been involuntarily laid off and have elected the right to recall or preference for re-employment (instead of severance pay) or have been involuntarily reduced in time.
• This policy applies to non-represented employees. Represented employees should consult their collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
• This policy does not apply to Career employees in Upper Laboratory Management positions. Those employees should consult the Appointments, Upper Laboratory Management policy.
• This policy does not apply to employees on Temporary Work Deferment status (See the Work Deferment policy).

C. Exceptions

Requests that exceed what is allowed under current policy or that are not expressly addressed by current policy are considered exceptions to policy. A request for an exception to policy requires, at a minimum, approval of the Chief Human Resources Officer. Depending on the circumstances, some exceptions may require University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and/or Department of Energy (DOE) approval.

D. Policy Statement

1. Reemployment Consideration. The hiring division may take an employee's relevant skills, knowledge and abilities, documented performance, and length of service into consideration when recalling an employee or providing preferential reemployment consideration to an employee.
2. Right to Be Recalled to Layoff Division
   1. Only Career employees (i) who have passed probation and (ii) who do not volunteer to be laid off in lieu of another employee and (iii) who did not elect Severance pay are eligible for the right to recall.
   2. An employee has the right to recall for one year from the date of layoff.
   3. A Career employee who has been involuntarily laid off or whose time has been reduced may be recalled into any active and vacant career position for which the employee is qualified when the position is in the same classification, in the same salary grade (in the event of the classification assigned to different salary grades), and in the same division at the same or lesser percentage of time as the position held at the time of layoff.
   4. Trial Employment. A Career employee who is recalled or rehired under preference for employment may, upon prior written notification, be required to serve a trial employment period of up to six months upon recall or rehire. An employee who is required to serve a trial employment may at any time during the trial employment return to layoff status at the employee's or at the division's discretion. Time spent in trial employment will not count against the period of eligibility for recall or preferential rehire. Time on leave with or without pay is not qualifying service for the completion of the trial employment period.
   5. Right to recall terminates if an employee:
      1. Refuses an offer to return to the layoff-unit division and job title/code from which the employee was laid off at the same or greater percentage of time, or
      2. Refuses two offers of re-employment for Career positions at the same or higher salary level and the same or greater percentage of time as the position held at the time of layoff, or
      3. Accepts a Career position at the same or higher salary level and the same or greater percentage of time as the position held at the time of layoff, or
      4. Retires
   6. Right to recall continues during, but is not extended by, periods of temporary, non-Career Berkeley Lab employment.
   7. Right to recall is suspended if an employee does not respond to written notice of an employment opportunity or if the employee does not respond in the affirmative to periodic inquiries about continuing the employee’s right(s).
3. Preference for Re-employment (Preferential Rehire)
   1. Only Career employees (i) who have passed probation and (ii) who did not volunteer to be laid off in lieu of another employee and (iii) who did not elect Severance pay are eligible for the right to preference for re-employment.
   2. An employee has the right to preferential rehire for one year from the date of layoff.
   3. An employee who separated or whose time is reduced because of layoff or who has received written notice of layoff or reduction in time within the two calendar months before the layoff date will be granted preference for re-employment or transfer to any active and vacant Career position at Berkeley Lab for which the employee is qualified when the position is (1) at the same salary level or lower (as determined by the salary-range maximum) and (2) at the same or lesser percentage of time as the position held by the employee at the time of layoff.
      1. The layoff coordinator will give employees, who self-identify their preferential-rehire status, consideration for a Berkeley Lab Career position in the same job code and at the same or lesser percentage of time as the job from which the employee was laid off. In addition, during the preference eligibility period, preference will be given for any job that meets the requirements as noted in the above paragraph for which the employee requests to be considered within two weeks of the posting date of the position.
      2. An employee terminated due to indefinite layoff will be given preference for employment in active and vacant Career positions, as described above, for which the employee has applied.
      3. If a layoff unit manager does not select an employee with preference for re-employment, reasons for non-selection will be provided by the layoff-unit manager in writing to the CHRO for review and approval.
      4. Trial Employment. A Career employee who is recalled or rehired under preference for re-employment may, upon prior written notification, be required to serve a trial employment period of up to six months upon recall or rehire. An employee who is required to serve a trial employment period may at any time during the trial employment period return to layoff status at the employee’s or at the division's discretion. Time spent in trial employment will not count against the period of eligibility for recall or preferential rehire. Time on leave with or without pay is not qualifying service for completion of the trial employment period.
   4. Right to preference for re-employment terminates if an employee:
      1. Refuses an offer to return to the layoff unit and job title/code from which the employee was laid off at the same or greater percentage of time, or
      2. Refuses two offers of re-employment for Career positions at the same or higher salary level in the same or greater percentage of time as the position the employee held at the time of layoff, or
      3. Accepts any Career position, or
      4. Retires.
   5. Right to preference for re-employment continues during, but is not extended by, periods of temporary Berkeley Lab employment.
   6. Right to preference for re-employment is suspended when an employee does not respond to written notice of an employment opportunity or if the employee does not respond to periodic inquiries about continuing the employee’s right(s).

4. Re-employment at Another University Location. If an employee who was laid off from Berkeley Lab is hired into a Career position at a UC location and passes the trial employment period, if required, the employee’s rights to recall and preference for rehire at Berkeley Lab terminate.

   Benefits Office

   The Benefits Office is located in building 90.

   Benefits phone: (510) 486-6403 (internally x6403) Benefits fax: (510) 486-6009 Benefits email: Benefits@lbl.gov

   Mailing Address:

   HR Benefits Group One Cyclotron Road MS 90R1136 Berkeley, CA 94720

5. Benefits on Re-employment. When a person is re-employed within the period of right to recall and/or preference for re-employment, the periods before and after layoff are considered as continuous service for the limited purpose of applying University policies concerning sick leave, vacation, holidays, probationary period, reduced-fee enrollment, seniority points for layoff, military leave, and merit salary increases. All prior sick-leave credit will be reinstated during the period of eligibility up to a period of one year. Benefits and credits for service, including those relating to retirement systems, do not accrue for periods on recall and/or preferential rehire status. The employee should contact the Benefits Office immediately upon re-employment for assistance.
6. Records and Reports. The layoff coordinator will maintain a current roster of all persons on recall and preferential-rehire status and will record all refusals, offers of employment, rejections of persons by layoff-unit managers, and refusals of employment offers by individuals on the preferential rehire list.

E. Roles and Responsibilities

F. Definitions/Acronyms

G. Recordkeeping Requirements

H. Implementing Documents

See the Human Resources Layoff website.

I. Contact Information

For information regarding this policy contact your division's HR Field team.

Do you have feedback regarding this policy? Send comments to hrpolicies@lbl.gov.

J. Revision History

DOCUMENT INFORMATION

Source Requirements Documents

• University of California Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) 60, Layoff and Reduction in Time from Professional and Support Staff Career Positions
• University of California Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) 2.21, Absence from Work