A layoff is any curtailment of the work force which makes it necessary to reduce the regular working hours or to terminate the contract of an employee. Employees completing terminal contracts are not laid off if their contract should not be extended or renewed. The Board of Regents may lay off a non-faculty exempt employee mid-contract for the reasons below.

Non-faculty exempt employees may be laid off at any time for the following reasons:

A. Legislative action;
B. Loss of grant, contract or other funding;
C. Governor’s executive order; or
D. Reorganization. A Board of Regents appointing authority may only use this as a means to lay off an employee for such occasions as privatization, the movement of a function to another state agency, the elimination of an organizational function, the consolidation of departments or functions, or a reduction in a program’s activities.

An employee shall be given a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days written notice prior to the effective date of the layoff or reassignment. The notice shall include:

1. Reasons for the layoff.
2. Information concerning the right to appeal.
3. The date of a meeting affording the employee the opportunity to present reasons why the layoff should not take place.
4. Date of the layoff.

Any laid off employee must take his earned annual leave in a lump sum. Laid off employees with seven (7) or more years of consecutive service shall be entitled to payment of one-fourth of their accrued unused sick leave, not to exceed four hundred eighty (480) hours. Such payment shall be made in lump sum with the last payroll warrant as required by South Dakota law and administrative rule.