SECTION 46. Administration of classification and pay plans

(1) The following shall be the salary schedule for the pay plan of the commonwealth:—

The above schedule shall not apply to salaries payable to employees who are represented by an employee organization certified by the labor relations commission or recognized by a public employer as an exclusive representative under the provisions of section four of chapter one hundred and fifty E; nor to salaries payable to part-time or intermittent employees, so-called, who because of the insufficient number of hours worked are not so represented; nor to the salaries of employees who are incumbents of positions which are not certified to a collective bargaining unit but which are listed on a petition filed by the commissioner of administration and entered with the said labor relations commission, which petition seeks the certification of such classes to a collective bargaining unit; nor to the salaries payable to employees of a public institution of higher education who are incumbents of positions in classes which are not certified to a collective bargaining unit represented by an employee organization certified by the labor relations commission or recognized by a public employer as the exclusive representative under the provisions of said section four of said chapter one hundred and fifty E but where other positions in the same classes are so certified or recognized in a public institution of higher education; nor to the salaries payable to employees who are incumbents of positions in classes assigned to a collective bargaining unit represented by an employee organization certified by the said labor relations commission or recognized by a public employer as an exclusive representative under the provisions of said section four of said chapter one hundred and fifty E and designated confidential under the provisions of section one of said chapter. The salaries payable to such part-time or intermittent employees shall be determined in the same manner as other part-time employees who work a sufficient number of hours to be represented; the salaries payable to such employees who are incumbents of positions in classes which are not certified to a collective bargaining unit but which are listed on a petition filed with the said labor relations commission shall be determined by the personnel administrator in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement then in effect covering the unit to which said petition seeks certification; the salaries payable to employees of a public institution of higher education who are incumbents of positions in classes which are not certified to a collective bargaining unit but where other positions in the same classes are so certified or recognized shall be determined by the personnel administrator in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement covering said positions in a public institution of higher education; and, the salaries payable to such employees who are incumbents of positions designated confidential shall be determined by the personnel administrator in accordance with the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement then in effect which would otherwise cover said positions.

Except as otherwise provided by law, after a person has been allocated to the above salary schedule, he must render a minimum of one year of service in the step-in-range of the job group to which his office or position has been allocated before he can be moved into the next higher step-in-range of the same job group; provided, however, when computing the date when salary increments shall become due after the initial allocation to a step-in-range, subsequent steps shall be due annually on the anniversary of the effective date of assignment to a rate within a salary grade in the salary schedule in effect immediately prior to October first, nineteen hundred and fifty-six; and, provided further, in the event a person has already served a period in excess of twelve months in said step-in-range in the salary schedule in effect prior to said date, the increment step to the next step-in-range shall be due immediately upon assignment to a step-in-range on said date.

(1A) Any employee serving a minimum of twelve years as deputy income tax assessor in the income tax division of the department of corporations and taxation shall automatically be promoted to the position of income tax assessor.

(1B) Any employee in the income tax division of the department of corporations and taxation, appointed with the advice and consent of the governor and council under section four of chapter fourteen of the General Laws, and having charge of a district office or of the subdivisions of partnership, abatements, auditing, assessing, fiduciary, corporation information and miscellaneous, administration, correspondence, domicile, files, special investigation and any other subdivision within said income tax division serving in such position on January first, nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and any employee so appointed who shall after said date succeed to and be the appointee in charge of said district offices or of said subdivisions on account of the promotion, resignation, retirement or death of the then serving incumbent, shall be promoted to and hold the position of assistant income tax director.

(2) For purposes of salary increments provided for in the general salary schedule, a year of service shall be a period of fifty-two weeks of work. Increments shall commence on the first day of the payroll period in which such increments fall; provided, however, that if an employee is off the payroll for one or more days, such increment shall be postponed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the division of personnel administration. Notwithstanding the contrary provisions of any rule or law, the service of an employee of the commonwealth, who has been elected to a state office and who is on leave of absence while performing the duties of such elected office, shall be considered as service for salary increments in the job group from which he received a leave of absence.

(2A) For the purpose of determining the date of initial employment, the period of service under an interim appointment, as defined in chapter thirty-one, shall be included as creditable service for such employee who subsequently receives a permanent, temporary or provisional appointment to a position of the same title.

(3) Daily rates of all employees shall be computed on the basis of their assigned Job Groups.

(4) Every regular step-rate increase in the salary of any office or employee of the commonwealth under the salary schedule set forth in this section shall be initiated by the division of personnel administration, in accordance with said salary schedule, and shall take effect in accordance with the said schedule upon certification of such increase by the personnel administrator to the comptroller and the appointing authority concerned.

In the case of each teacher and each supervisor employed in any school or college within any department of the commonwealth whose regular service is rendered from September first to June thirtieth, salary increments due such person, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of this section, shall take effect in the first week of September or in the first week of February, as the case may be, after periods of service as established in the General Laws.

Such certification must be sent at least thirty days before the effective date of such step-rate salary increase. The said appointing authority may, in writing to the personnel administrator not later than fifteen days before such effective date, object thereto, stating reasons therefor and furnishing a copy thereof to the said officer or employee, in which event said administrator shall, in writing not later than five days preceding the date when the increase otherwise would have taken effect, remove such certification; and the appointing authority shall forthwith notify such officer or employee.

In the event that a step-rate increase has been denied an officer or employee of the commonwealth by the appointing authority, the appointing authority may recommend that such denial be removed and such step-rate increase be granted. The personnel administrator thereupon shall certify such increase in the manner provided for above in the case of regular step-rate increases, and such step-rate increase shall become effective upon such certification.

If a step-rate increase is denied any officer or employee under the provisions of this section, such officer or employee may appeal for review of such decision before the civil service commission.

The said recommendations and reasons of the said appointing authority shall be open to public inspection in the files of the division of personnel administration.

(5) The said administrator may, with the approval of the commissioner of administration, permit the recruitment of employees at a rate above the minimum, but not exceeding the maximum, of the job group salary range for the class concerned; provided, however, that the said administrator shall have first determined, upon request of the appointing authority, that an emergency exists due to inability to fill positions. Any such permit shall remain in effect until rescinded by the said administrator, but shall not be in effect longer than one year unless renewed in like manner and with like approval. Whenever the said administrator shall permit such recruitment, all employees in the same class being paid a rate or rates below such rate of recruitment shall be advanced to the said recruitment rate.

(5A) In accordance with regulations established by the personnel administrator with the approval of the commissioner of administration, designating certain classes as professional classes, an appointing authority may, in the initial appointment of a person to a position in such class, recruit such person at a rate above the minimum and within the grade to which the position is allocated, upon certification by said appointing authority to the administrator that the person to be employed has served satisfactorily in a comparable position for a period of time equivalent to the period required by the general salary schedule had such service been entirely in the service of the commonwealth, and, in the case of an office in or position with any department, agency, board, commission or institution within any of the executive offices established by chapters six A and seven, upon the prior written approval of the secretary having charge of such executive office. For the purpose of such regulations, professional classes shall include, but shall not be limited to, classes including positions for registered nurses and persons employed in medical or technical positions in hospitals and clinics, including the administration thereof, persons employed for the instruction of students and engineers and chemists. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the recruitment of personnel under the provisions of section fourteen of chapter seventy-five. No person may be recruited under this section if he has held a personal services contract with or been in the service of the commonwealth within a twelve-month period immediately prior to the date of proposed recruitment.

(5B) The said administrator shall, with the approval of the commissioner of administration, designate certain classes of nonmanagerial positions as professional data processing positions, as defined in paragraph (9) of section forty-five, and he shall submit, in writing, to the budget director and the house and senate committees on ways and means a list of classes so designated. Appointments to such positions shall not be subject to the provisions of section nine A, section forty-five, and chapter thirty-one. The salaries of such positions shall be determined annually by the commissioner of administration on or before June first after recommendation by the personnel administrator, who shall make such recommendation annually on or before May first after having conducted an analysis of salaries for the same or similar types of positions paid by other governments and by private employers with which the commonwealth competes in securing qualified applicants for such positions. Any person transferred or promoted to any such position from a position in which he had rights or tenure under section nine A, chapter thirty-one, or any other general or special law, shall, upon termination of his services in such professional data processing position, if he so requests, be restored to the position from which he was transferred or promoted, or to a position equivalent thereto in salary grade in the same agency, without impairment of his tenure, seniority, retirement and other rights to which uninterrupted service in such position would have entitled him; provided, however, that if his service in such professional data processing position shall have been terminated for cause, his right to be so restored shall be determined by the civil service commission in accordance with the standards applied by the said commission in administering chapter thirty-one.

(6) When in accordance with sections forty-five to fifty, inclusive, the office of any officer or the position of any employee shall be initially allocated to a job group in the salary schedule, or shall be reallocated to a higher job group, or when in accordance with the said sections any officer or employee shall be transferred or promoted to another position in a different job group, any such officer or employee, for subsequent step-rate increases, shall be credited with the number of years of service which shall correspond to his rate in the job group for such office or position. Any officer or employee reinstated or reemployed, if reinstated or reemployed within three years following his separation from the payroll, shall be credited with the number of years of service which shall correspond to his rate in the job group to which his office or position at the time of such separation shall then have been allocated; but in no event shall he be paid at a rate lower than that which he shall have been receiving at the time of such separation. Such credit for any employee reinstated or reemployed after three or more years following such separation shall be determined in accordance with rules of the personnel administrator.

(7) Whenever an employee receives a promotion to a position in a higher job group, his rate shall be the next higher rate in said higher job group, or the second next higher rate therein if such new salary rate would result in an increase of salary smaller in amount than the salary increment for such higher job group; however, if a teacher or supervisor employed in any school or college within any department of the commonwealth is transferred from a position, in which the regular service is rendered from September first to June thirtieth, to a position in which the regular service is rendered for the entire year, he shall be reallocated in the salary schedule from the rate in the salary schedule in effect immediately prior to such transfer to the corresponding step-in-range in the job group which includes the class to which he has been transferred.

(8) An employee who is demoted to a position in a lower job group shall receive the salary to which his period of service would entitle him if his service had been rendered in such position in the lower job group, but not less than the employee would have been entitled to had his service been continuously in such position in the lower job group.

(9) No increase in salary shall be effective for any position before the effective date of the appropriation act which includes an appropriation made for the purpose of, and sufficient to cover, the cost of such increase.

(10) Rates of compensation in the salary schedule are for work hours as provided in section thirty A of chapter one hundred and forty-nine.

(11) An employee serving on a part time basis as certified by the appointing authority shall be entitled to the provisions of this chapter in the proportion that his service bears to full time service.

(12) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, no employee shall receive compensation from any agency, department, commission, board or other undertaking of the commonwealth if said employee is also a non-elected employee of a county and would receive compensation from such county in excess of twenty thousand dollars or, in the case of court officers of the trial court of the commonwealth employed by courts located in Dukes and Nantucket counties, in excess of twenty-seven thousand dollars. Any employee covered by the provisions of this paragraph shall have thirty days prior to separation from the payroll of the commonwealth within which to resign from the employ of each county.