At most state agencies, your seniority lists are available in your local network. MGEC requests seniority lists on a regular basis, but those requests are not always timely responded to by the agencies. Check your local list to make sure the dates that establish your seniority are accurate.
Similarly, your Position Description (PD) should be accurate, up-to-date, and complete. Take a moment to make sure this is all true for you. Work with your supervisor to ensure what you actually do in your role is reflected in your PD, especially if you feel your PD is missing pieces of your role.
Similarly, many agencies rely on your resume to take stock of your role. Make sure yours is up to date and your agency has a current version, if they are an agency that uses them. The more detailed and accurate, the better.
Right now, the Department of Health is in the middle of dealing with the unanticipated cancellation of grants that is causing the nearly immediate layoff of nearly 200 hundred people with bumping notices going out to nearly 700 people. While we are grateful that – so far – there are no affected MGEC members, it is vital to understand how the layoff process works. Your PD and seniority are what determines whether you are laid off and in what order.
If the information in your PD is incomplete, it is possible that you will miss a bumping opportunity because HR uses PDs to determine whether you are eligible or not to fill another role. If your seniority dates are inaccurate, you might be laid off in the wrong order.
Both of these scenarios are difficult to correct in the middle of a crisis such as the one MDH is currently in. It’s possible to use the grievance process to correct mistakes for seniority errors, but it takes a long time. It’s far better to get it right before a layoff instead of figuring it out while you’re on unemployment.