§ 21-4-203 - Definitions.

21-4-203. Definitions.

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Agency head" or "agency director" means the executive head of all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, bureaus, councils, or other agencies of the state;

(2) "Annual leave" means vacation time with pay but shall not include compensatory time;

(3) "Catastrophic illness" means a medical condition, as certified by a physician, of an employee or of the spouse or parent of the employee or of a child of the employee that may be claimed as a dependent under the Arkansas Income Tax Act of 1929, 26-51-101 et seq., which requires an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and which, except for the catastrophic leave program, would result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the exhaustion of all earned sick and annual leave;

(4) "Catastrophic leave" means leave granted to an employee as a result of a catastrophic illness, upon the employee's exhausting all sick and annual leave;

(5) "Catastrophic leave bank" means a pool of accrued annual leave donated by employees;

(6) "Compensatory time" means time off in lieu of payment for overtime hours;

(7) "Educational leave" means any period of out-service training during which time the employee pursues a regular full-time course of instruction to acquire a specific skill or skills needed;

(8) "Employee" means a person regularly appointed or employed in a position of state service by a state agency, as defined in subdivision (1) of this section, for which he or she is compensated on a full-time basis;

(9) "Probationary employee" means a person certified from a list of eligibles or employed through a work test appointment and serving a probationary period;

(10) "Provisional employee" means a person who has been appointed to fill a position pending the establishment of a register for such position;

(11) "State agencies" means all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, bureaus, councils, state-supported institutions of higher learning, or other agencies except the following excluded agencies or positions within agencies:

(A) The elected constitutional officers of this state and their employees;

(B) The General Assembly and its employees, including employees of the Bureau of Legislative Research and the Division of Legislative Audit;

(C) Members of the Supreme Court, members of the Court of Appeals, the Administrative Office of the Courts, circuit courts, and prosecuting attorneys, but not including deputy prosecuting attorneys;

(D) The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department; and

(E) All administrative, academic, or other nonclassified employees of the state-supported institutions of higher learning;

(12) "Temporary employee" means a person who has been appointed from a register for a period of time not to exceed six (6) months;

(13) (A) "Working day" means all regularly prescribed days of employment in which the employee performs those duties for which he or she was hired.

(B) For the purposes of this subchapter, a working day shall consist of eight (8) hours; and

(14) "Years of service" includes the total number of years of employment with all agencies of Arkansas state government whether such employment is continuous or not.