By JOCELYN KING
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Northern Community College won’t petition to establish its own hiring policies if legislation pertaining to seniority and “employee bumping” is signed into law, according to WVNCC President Vicki Riley.
(Photo by Joselyn King)
House Bill 2542 completed legislation this week after being passed by the Senate 27-7. Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio, and Sens. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, and Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, all voted in favor of the bill.
Once signed into law, the measure first would allow West Virginia University, Marshall University and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine flexibility to develop rules for employee classification and compensation. This would permit the schools to remove employment criteria based on seniority and employee “bumping rights.”
Other state colleges, meanwhile, could remain under the current system, or apply to the state Higher Education Policy Commission or Community and Technical College Council to request the same right. But colleges and universities seeking to establish their own hiring systems would have to establish policies pertaining to employee classification and compensation, as well as performance evaluations.
Riley said flexibility in hiring practices could benefit smaller colleges, but that the advantage to remaining part of the council outweighs those.
“Our initial discussion would be that we would not want to opt out,” she said. “There are a lot of benefits we receive from the West Virginia council in terms of coordination and support in terms of services. They provide a lot of benefit to individual colleges. … We think there are some benefits to some of the centralization, especially for those of us who are small schools.”
Riley said she has been in discussions with classified staff members who she said would be most affected by any change.
“The bumping process can be very detrimental institution-wide,” she said. “Instead of just one staff member, there could be a domino effect that affects several staff members. We would like to try and protect them from that.”
West Liberty University President Stephen Greiner said the school hasn’t yet made a decision on the matter.
“It’s something we want to discuss with the (WLU Board of Governors) and seek their advice,” Greiner said.
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