Amends TCA Section 8-30-103; Title 8, Chapter 30, Part 3 and Title 37, Chapter 5, Part 3.

In addition to replacing the term "list of eligibles" with "pool of candidates" for purposes of filling positions in state service, this bill makes the following changes and additions to present law concerning state employment: (1) Present law authorizes a commissioner, department, officer, or agency having power to make appointments to, and separations from, positions in state service (an "appointing authority") to layoff or furlough employees or reduce hours of employment for lack of funds, a reduction in spending authorization, lack of work, efficiency, or other material change in duties or organization. A reduction in force must be approved by the commissioner. Present law requires that job performance evaluations be the primary factor for determining layoffs, with seniority, abilities, and disciplinary record being secondary factors. Present law generally requires that an employee in preferred service receive 30-days advance notice of abolishment of the employee's position due to a reduction in force. Present law also requires maintenance of a layoff list, whereby laid-off employees will be notified of job openings for a period of one year following layoff. This bill deletes the present law concerning reductions in force of state employees; (2) This bill deletes a present law requirement that the department of human resources and the department of finance and administration report electronically each month to the finance and ways and means committees of the senate and house of representatives and the fiscal review committee on promotions and other employment actions affecting state employees; (3) This bill replaces the term "complaint" with "appeal" concerning appeals of adverse employment action by preferred service employees; (4) Under present law, a preferred service employee generally has 14 days to appeal adverse employment action. This bill specifies that, if a physical copy of the appeal is mailed to the agency, then the timeliness of the appeal must be determined by the date postmarked on the envelope; (5) This bill makes several changes to the three-step appeal process for state employees, as follows: (A) Step I: Adds that an appealing employee must provide a statement detailing why the discipline issued was in error and should be overturned or reduced; and extends from 15 to 20 days the time an appointing authority has to issue a written decision; (B) Step II: Removes duplicative requirement that the commissioner of human resources provide the appellant with a copy of the evidence used during Step I, which the appointing authority is already required to produce to the appellant at Step I; and (C) Step III: Specifies that the appealing party bears the burden of proof during the Step III proceeding; and allows the 120-day deadline for the board of appeals to issue a decision to be extended not more than 140 days for extraordinary circumstances (under present law the 120-day time period may not be extended); and (6) For purposes of calculating time with respect to any proceedings against state employees under present law concerning employment actions, present law required that time is counted by calendar days, excluding holidays. This bill replaces the present law formula with a requirement that time be computed in accordance with a computation that is generally applicable to time periods in present law concerning state service, under which the date of an act is not counted, the last day is counted unless it is a weekend or holiday or day when a filing office is closed, and intermediate weekends and holidays are only excluded if the time prescribed is less than 11 days.