Fringe benefits from state employment of the transferred personnel, including vacation and sick leave, health and life insurance and retirement, remain with the transferred personnel. All employees of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, whenever hired, are eligible to participate in the state employee health plan and the regular state employee plan of the Maine State Retirement System.

Collective bargaining agreements between the State and bargaining units comparable to those at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf do not cover the members of the bargaining units at that school.__The rights and benefits of employees at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf are determined by statute and by the status quo existing at the school. The rights and benefits under statutes, rules and collective bargaining agreements in effect on the effective date of this Act or successor collective bargaining agreements are evidence of the status quo that must be maintained for all personnel at Governor Baxter School for the Deaf until changed in accordance with applicable labor law principles. The rights and benefits of personnel hired after August 11, 2000, whose positions are included within a bargaining unit, are the same as those of the transferred employees, once the newly hired personnel are eligible employees under applicable law or the applicable collective bargaining agreement, except that these employees do not have seniority rights applicable to executive branch bargaining units.

All personnel transferred from state employment to the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf as an independent agency retain all applicable seniority rights and privileges and all other rights and privileges with regard to employment in state service for a period of 2 years from the effective date of this Act.__During this 2-year period, the recall provisions of these applicable laws, rules and collective bargaining agreements continue to apply for all transferred personnel with layoff status to the filling of any vacancy in the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.__Transferred personnel who refuse recall to the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf retain full recall rights to all other agencies of State Government.

The Department of Administrative and Financial Services shall assist the School Board of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf with the orderly implementation of the provisions of this subsection.

Sec. 4. Retroactivity. This Act is retroactive to August 11, 2000.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

This bill clarifies several of the transition provisions applicable to employees of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, which became an independent state agency pursuant to Public Law 1999, chapter 775. The bill provides that employees who were hired after the effective date of that law have the same rights and benefits as employees hired before, except for seniority rights in executive branch agencies. The bill provides that employees hired before and after the change in the school's status are eligible to participate in the state employee health plan and the regular state employee plan of the Maine State Retirement System.

It provides that collective bargaining agreements between the State and bargaining agents for bargaining units in state employment do not cover comparable bargaining units at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf. However, the agreements between the State and the bargaining agents in effect at the time of the school's status change and successor agreements are evidence of the status quo at the school, which must be maintained until changed in accordance with applicable labor law principles.

This bill also provides that Governor Baxter School for the Deaf employees are eligible to participate in the state employee health plan and the state employee plan of the Maine State Retirement System unless a binding agreement signed by both the employee or employee representative and the school board of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf otherwise provides. This prevents the school board from unilaterally changing the health or retirement benefit provided to the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf employees.