2.2-1201 - Duties of Department.
§ 2.2-1201. Duties of Department.
The Department shall have the following duties:
1. Make recommendations to the Governor regarding the establishment andmaintenance of a classification plan for the service of the Commonwealth, andrecommend necessary amendments thereto.
2. Make recommendations to the Governor regarding the establishment andadministration of a compensation plan for all employees, and recommendnecessary amendments thereto.
3. Design and maintain a personnel information system that shall support theoperational needs of the Department and of state agencies, and that shallprovide for the management information needs of the Governor, hissecretaries, and the General Assembly. The system shall provide at a minimuma roster of all employees in the service of the Commonwealth, in which thereshall be set forth as to each employee, the employing agency, the classtitle, pay, status and such other data as may be deemed desirable to producesignificant facts pertaining to personnel administration.
4. Establish and direct a program of employee-management relations designedto improve communications between employees and agencies of the Commonwealth.
5. Establish and administer a system of performance evaluation for allemployees in the service of the Commonwealth, based on the quality of servicerendered, related where practicable to specific standards of performance. Inno event shall workers' compensation leave affect the total number of hourscredited during a performance cycle for purposes of calculating incentiveincreases in salary based on such performance evaluations.
6. Establish and administer a system of recruitment designed to attract highquality employees to the service of the Commonwealth. In administering thissystem, applicants shall be rated on the basis of relative merit andclassified in accordance with their suitability for the various classes ofpositions in the service of the Commonwealth, and a record thereof shall bemaintained in the open register.
7. Design and utilize an application form which shall include, but not belimited to, information on prior volunteer work performed by the applicant.
8. Establish and administer a comprehensive and integrated program ofemployee training and management development.
9. Establish and administer a program of evaluation of the effectiveness ofperformance of the personnel activities of the agencies of the Commonwealth.
10. Establish and administer a program to ensure equal employment opportunityto applicants for state employment and to state employees in all incidents ofemployment.
11. Establish and administer regulations relating to disciplinary actions;however, no disciplinary action shall include the suspension without pay formore than 10 days of any state employee who is under investigation without ahearing conducted either by a level of supervision above the employee'simmediate supervisor or by his agency head.
12. Adopt and implement a centralized program to provide awards to employeeswho propose procedures or ideas that are adopted and that will result ineliminating or reducing state expenditures or improving operations, providedsuch proposals are placed in effect. The centralized program shall bedesigned to (i) protect the identity of the individual making the proposalwhile it is being evaluated for implementation by a state agency, (ii)publicize the acceptance of proposals and financial awards to stateemployees, and (iii) include a reevaluation process that individuals makingproposals may access if their proposals are rejected by the evaluatingagency. The reevaluation process must include individuals from the privatesector. State employees who make a suggestion or proposal under this sectionshall receive initial confirmation of receipt within 30 days. A determinationof the feasibility of the suggestion or proposal shall occur within 60 daysof initial receipt.
13. Develop state personnel policies and, after approval by the Governor,disseminate and interpret state personnel policies and procedures to allagencies. Such personnel policies shall permit an employee, with the writtenapproval of his agency head, to substitute (i) up to 33 percent of hisaccrued paid sick leave, (ii) up to 100 percent of any other paid leave, or(iii) any combination of accrued paid sick leave and any other paid leave forleave taken pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq.). On and after December 1, 1999, such personnel policy shallinclude an acceptable use policy for the Internet. At a minimum, theDepartment's acceptable use policy shall contain provisions that (i) prohibituse by state employees of the Commonwealth's computer equipment andcommunications services for sending, receiving, viewing, or downloadingillegal material via the Internet and (ii) establish strict disciplinarymeasures for violation of the acceptable use policy. An agency head maysupplement the Department's acceptable use policy with such other terms,conditions, and requirements as he deems appropriate. The Director of theDepartment shall have the final authority to establish and interpretpersonnel policies and procedures and shall have the authority to ensure fullcompliance with such policies. However, unless specifically authorized bylaw, the Director of the Department shall have no authority with respect tothe state grievance procedures.
13a. Develop state personnel policies, with the approval of the Governor,that permit any full-time state employee who is also a member of theorganized reserve forces of any of the armed services of the United States orof the Virginia National Guard to carry forward from year to year the totalof his accrued annual leave time without regard to the regulation or policyof his agency regarding the maximum number of hours allowed to be carriedforward at the end of a calendar year. Any amount over the usual amountallowed to be carried forward shall be reserved for use only as leave takenpursuant to active military service as provided by § 2.2-2903.1. Such leaveand its use shall be in addition to leave provided under § 44-93. Any leavecarried forward for the purposes described remaining upon termination ofemployment with the Commonwealth or any department, institution or agencythereof that has not been used in accordance with § 2.2-2903.1 shall not bepaid or credited in any way to the employee.
14. Ascertain and publish on an annual basis, by agency, the number ofemployees in the service of the Commonwealth, including permanent full-timeand part-time employees, those employed on a temporary or contractual basis,and constitutional officers and their employees whose salaries are funded bythe Commonwealth. The publication shall contain the net gain or loss to theagency in personnel from the previous fiscal year and the net gains andlosses in personnel for each agency for a three-year period.
15. Submit a report to the members of the General Assembly on or beforeSeptember 30 of each year showing (i) the total number of full- and part-timeemployees, (ii) contract temporary employees, (iii) hourly temporaryemployees, and (iv) the number of employees who voluntarily and involuntarilyterminated their employment with each department, agency or institution inthe previous fiscal year.
16. Administer the workers' compensation insurance plan for state employeesin accordance with § 2.2-2821.
17. Work jointly with the Department of General Services and the VirginiaInformation Technologies Agency to develop expedited processes for theprocurement of staff augmentation to supplement salaried and wage employeesof state agencies. Such processes shall be consistent with the VirginiaPublic Procurement Act (§ 2.2-4300 et seq.). The Department may performcontract administration duties and responsibilities for any resultingstatewide augmentation contracts.
(1976, c. 761, § 2.1-114.5; 1978, cc. 844, 845; 1979, c. 482; 1980, c. 198;1988, c. 208; 1989, c. 254; 1992, c. 424; 1993, c. 561; 1994, cc. 17, 954;1997, c. 856; 1999, c. 384; 2000, cc. 66, 633, 657, 697; 2001, c. 844; 2002,c. 780; 2003, cc. 685, 789; 2005, c. 386; 2006, c. 474; 2008, c. 576.)