State Restriction of Appointments (SROA/Surplus) Updates

This Personnel Management Liaison Memorandum (PML) is to stress the importance that departments adhere to the processes outlined in the State Restrictions of Appointment (SROA) Program. The Department of Personnel Administration's (DPA) website (SROA webpage) has been updated to include the following statement: Personnel Office staff should refer to the SROA Manual (DPA 2004) and recent PMLs (2009-026; 2010-001) for detailed guidance. Also, in order to assist Super SROA employees with every opportunity for a job placement, this PML outlines additional requirements for Layoff and Hiring departments for Super SROA processes.

General Information

• Clarification to Section V.E.2 of the SROA Manual: Hiring departments must contact SROA eligible employees (by requesting a certification list for the vacant position and following SPB Rule 258 for contact requirements), unless the appointment is a mandatory reinstatement or is specifically excluded per Section VI of the SROA Manual.
• Any SROA/Surplus employee that applies for a job vacancy in a class other than the class they are currently in (including any department-specific class) must be considered for the vacant position. The SROA/Surplus candidates must indicate on their application (or attach a copy of their surplus letter) that they have been designated surplus and must meet transfer eligibility like any other applicant.
• SROA/Surplus employees are required to comply with the filing instructions outlined in job vacancy bulletins and inquiry/contact letters just like any other candidate. Example: If the job vacancy bulletin and inquiry/contact letter indicate that the applicant must return a completed Standard State Application form and a completed Supplemental Questionnaire to be considered for the position, all applicants (including SROA and Surplus employees) must comply with the instructions to be considered for the position. Departments are to ensure that the filing instructions are clear and concise.
• All exemptions from SROA/Surplus must be approved by DPA's Personnel Services Branch (PSB) (unless the exemption is specifically excluded per Section VI of the SROA Manual). Special exemption requests are to be submitted in writing to DPA's PSB. Note: In May 2003, DPA rescinded delegation to departments to determine whether or not employees possess the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for appointment to any class. The 2004 SROA Manual, Section V, page 16, the first "F" on the page was printed in the 2004 SROA Manual in error. Delegation to departments was rescinded on May 19, 2003, therefore, this paragraph F should have been deleted in the 2004 SROA Manual. If a department feels an SROA or Surplus employee does not possess the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities the department must submit an exemption request in writing to DPA's PSB.
• Hiring departments that have determined a Super SROA employee does not have the required professional license and/or credentials for the job vacancy are to contact DPA's PSB for review before proceeding with the recruitment.
• SROA candidates are required to accept a valid job offer for a vacant position. Please notify DPA's PSB if a SROA candidate declines a valid job offer.

Super SROA

Effective immediately, the SROA Program, Super SROA process is amended adding additional requirements as follows:

Background

The Memoranda of Understanding between the State and Bargaining units (BU) 2, 9, and 10 (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation AB 109 Realignment Side Letter Agreement) contain a clause, which is referred to as "Super SROA" and provides: Departments filling vacancies shall offer positions to employees facing layoff, demotion in lieu of layoff, or mandatory geographic transfer, who meet the minimum qualifications (MQs) for the vacancy being filled, provided the vacancy is equivalent in salary and responsibility and in the same geographic area and bargaining unit.

Who Qualifies for Super SROA?

An employee in BU 2, 9, or who has been designated as having Super SROA status for purposes of a particular layoff (currently this applies to BU 10 CDCR employees affected by the AB 109 realignment).

Super SROA employees must also meet the following three criteria:

• 1. Work in a county touching the county in which the job vacancy exists.
• 2. Currently serve in a class eligible to transfer to the position being filled (meet transfer eligibility requirements).
• 3. Meet the minimum qualifications (MQs) of the position being filled. Only those requirements specifically included in the MQs on the class specification, such as particular types of professional licenses or credentials, may be relied upon to request exclusion of an applicant from consideration.

Role of the Departments Laying Off Super SROA Employees

In addition to completing and updating the Scantron form as you do with all SROA employees, departments have unique obligations for Super SROA employees to help them locate jobs:

• 1. Issue Surplus/Super SROA Certification letter (sample attached) to the affected employee(s).
• 2. Super SROA Worksheet form:
  • a. Send the Super SROA employee a Super SROA Worksheet form (sample attached) to complete and return to the department's human resource contact.
  • b. Review the returned form and contact the employee to discuss their eligibility for the classes listed. If changes to the form are made, send a copy back to the employee for their records.
  • c. Educate the employee on how to identify employment opportunities utilizing the State Personnel Board's Vacancy Data Base System (VPOS).
• 3. Search for employment opportunities on the VPOS website.
• 4. Verify receipt of job vacancy bulletins from the hiring departments. Notify DPA's PSB of any job vacancies bulletins that you did not receive a notification from the hiring department.
• 5. Upon receipt of job vacancy bulletins personally and expeditiously contact each Super SROA employee by email, telephone, or via their supervisors or managers to notify them of the job vacancies.
• 6. Immediately follow this initial contact by providing copies of the job vacancy bulletins to each Super SROA employee.
• 7. Instruct each Super SROA employee that meets the MQs for the class of the position to apply for the jobs he/she is interested in within five calendar days of receipt of the job vacancy bulletin. In addition, remind the Super SROA employee to follow the filing instructions on the job vacancy bulletin when applying for the job and to indicate that they are Super SROA on their application.
• 8. Super SROA status ends in the same way SROA status ends for all designated employees.

Role of the Departments Hiring Employees in BU 2, 9, and 10

In addition to following the SROA procedures when filling a job vacancy, departments also have unique obligations to help Super SROA employees locate jobs:

• 1. Order a certification list for the job vacancy and contact (such as sending Inquiry/Contact letters) each Super SROA employee listed.
• 2. Widely advertise employment opportunities including posting them on the VPOS and posting them in their own department.
• 3. Contact the SROA Coordinator in each of the departments listed on DPA's SROA website for having Super SROA employees in the Super SROA BU of the position vacancy being advertised. Notify the layoff department of the classification and duties of the job vacancy, number of vacancies, geographic location, and salary of the position(s) to be filled.
• 4. Follow up the contact by sending each SROA Coordinator and DPA's PSB a job vacancy bulletin for each position to be filled.
• 5. Departments MUST fill each vacant position with an employee who meets the Super SROA criteria, if one applies. There are NO EXEMPTIONS to Super SROA requirements.
  • Note: Hiring departments that have determined a Super SROA employee does not have the required professional license and/or credentials for the job vacancy is to contact DPA's PSB for review of the determination before proceeding with the recruitment.

• 6. If no Super SROA employee, who is qualified for the job vacancy, applies for the job follow the provisions of the regular SROA Program.
• 7. Complete a Super SROA Compliance Audit form (sample attached) for each Super SROA job vacancy filled and send it and the required document to DPA's PSB.
• 8. Keep recruitment and hiring process documentation on file for audit purposes.

 

Departments can locate the attachments indicated in this PML on DPA's SROA website under the Forms section. For questions related to this PML, state department personnel office designated liaisons should contact DPA's Personnel Services Branch by emailing questions to PSB@dpa.ca.gov or calling (916) 323-3343. Departments may also mail questions to:

Department of Personnel Administration

Personnel Services Branch

1515 S Street, North Building, Suite 400

Sacramento, CA 95811-7258

 

/s/ Julie Chapman

Deputy Director of Labor Relations