§18B-7-7. Employment practices.

(a) Each governing board, with the advice and assistance of the staff council, shall promulgate and adopt a rule regarding the role of part-time classified employees. The rule shall discourage the hiring of part-time employees solely to avoid the payment of benefits or in lieu of full-time employees and shall provide all qualified classified employees who hold nine-month or ten-month contracts with the opportunity to accept part-time or full-time summer employment before new persons are hired for the part-time or full-time employment.

(b) Each governing board, with the advice and assistance of the staff councils and other groups representing classified employees, shall promulgate and adopt a rule in accordance with section six, article one of this chapter that discourages temporary, nonemergency, institutionally-imposed changes in an employee's work schedule; that maintains reasonable continuity in working schedules and conditions for employees; and that requires institutions to consider feasible and innovative ways to use the institution's classified employees most efficiently. These innovations may include, but are not limited to, flexibility in employee scheduling, job-sharing and four-day work weeks.