§ 21-4-203 — Definitions

As used in this subchapter: (1) "Agency head" or "agency director" means the executive head of an agency, department, board, commission, bureau, council, or other entity of the state; (2) "Annual leave" means vacation time with pay but does not include compensatory time; (3) "Catastrophic illness" means a medical condition, as certified by a physician, of an employee, of the spouse or parent of the employee, or of a child of the employee that requires the 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 accrued leave and compensatory time; (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 and sick leave donated by employees; (6) "Compensatory time" means time off in lieu of payment for overtime hours; (7) (A) "Critical-need employee" means a person employed by any of the following state agencies in a position or classification that is required to be staffed by the state agency twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week: (i) The Department of Corrections; (ii) The Department of Health; (iii) The Department of Human Services; (iv) The Division of Emergency Management; (v) The Division of Arkansas State Police; (vi) The Department of Veterans Affairs; or (vii) The Department of Agriculture. (B) A state agency shall: (i) Determine each position or classification that is required to be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week under subdivision (7)(A) of this section and submit the position or classification to the Office of Personnel Management for approval; (ii) Upon the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, notify an employee that he or she is a critical-need employee based upon his or her employment in a position or classification that is required to be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week; and (iii) Submit annual reports identifying each position or classification that must be staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and seven (7) days a week to the Legislative Council or, if the General Assembly is in regular, fiscal, or extraordinary session, the Joint Budget Committee; (8) "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; (9) "Employee" means a person regularly appointed or employed in a position of state service by a state agency, as defined in subdivision (12) of this section, for which he or she is compensated on a full-time basis; (10) "Probationary employee" means a person certified from a list of eligibles or employed through a work test appointment and serving a probationary period; (11) "Provisional employee" means a person who has been appointed to fill a position pending the establishment of a register for such a position; (12) "State agencies" means all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, bureaus, councils, state-supported institutions of higher education, 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 Arkansas 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 Department of Transportation; and (E) All administrative, academic, or other nonclassified employees of the state-supported institutions of higher education; (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 consists 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.

Legislative History

Amended by Act 2021, No. 573,§ 2, eff. 7/28/2021. Amended by Act 2021, No. 573,§ 1, eff. 7/28/2021. Amended by Act 2021, No. 378,§ 1, eff. 3/17/2021. Amended by Act 2017, No. 707,§ 67, eff. 8/1/2017. Amended by Act 2017, No. 254,§ 1, eff. 8/1/2017. Amended by Act 2017, No. 182,§ 2, eff. 2/16/2017. Amended by Act 2017, No. 182,§ 1, eff. 2/16/2017. Amended by Act 2015, No. 389,§ 1, eff. 7/22/2015. Added by Act 2013, No. 997,§ 1, eff. 8/16/2013. Acts 1975, No. 567, § 3; 1979, No. 1077, § 1; 1981, No. 695, §§ 1, 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 12-2366; Acts 1991, No. 91, § 1; 1991, No. 169, § 1; 1999, No. 1044, § 6; 1999, No. 1176, § 3; 1999, No. 1438, § 4; 2001, No. 1553, § 33.