The Director of Human Resources Management shall be responsible for developing and maintaining a classification system for all positions in the classified service. The classification plan shall identify job titles and classification categories. The Director of Human Resources Management shall develop and maintain said classification system in accordance with the following requirements: That the same grade be applied to and the same qualification requirements be consistently required for, all positions in the same class of work based upon the similarity of assigned duties, tasks, and responsibilities; and, That the same standards be developed and applied in the review of all positions and classes of work.

The Director of Human Resources Management is hereby assigned the responsibilities and duties stipulated in Subsection (b), below, to insure that the basic principles of the County's classification system, as set forth in Section 16-115, above, are properly and effectively executed on a continual basis. The Director of Human Resources Management shall develop procedures to administer the classification system that address the following areas: Development and maintenance of class titles; Development and maintenance of classes of work with similar skills and salary ranges; Development and maintenance of written specifications for the different classes of work; Reallocation of encumbered positions; Technical assistance to departments, agencies, and offices of County government; Reviewing, processing, and approving requests for position reviews or classification changes.

The responsibilities of appointing authorities and supervisors with respect to the County's classification system shall be as follows: To develop, in consultation with the Director of Human Resources Management, accurate and current position descriptions for all positions under their jurisdiction; To review and, where necessary, update, the position descriptions developed under paragraph (a)(1), above, as determined by the Director of Human Resources Management; To provide incumbents of all positions under their jurisdiction with current copies of said incumbents' applicable position descriptions as developed and maintained under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2), above; To periodically review the status of positions under their jurisdictions and to promptly initiate allocation and reallocation requests where believed to be necessary; To insure that an adequate and accurate presentation of facts is made to the Director of Human Resources Management at the time of any review of a position or positions under their jurisdiction; To be sufficiently familiar with the classification process in order to discuss pertinent facts with position incumbents at the time of any proposed position classification action; To insure that position classification actions are not proposed solely as a means to reward a position incumbent or as a means of disciplining a position incumbent; and, To insure that the assignment of duties, tasks, and responsibilities to any position incumbent: Is within the scope of the incumbent's applicable class specification, except as specifically provided otherwise under the provisions of this Subtitle; and Can be supported in the budget in the event that a reallocation to a class of work with a higher grade is determined to be warranted.

There shall be two (2) categories of positions in the exempt service, temporary/seasonal and permanent, defined as follows: A temporary/seasonal position shall mean any duly authorized and properly allocated position which, by virtue thereof, shall permit the employment of one (1) person for not more than seven hundred (700) hours in any twelve (12) month period; and, A permanent position shall mean any duly authorized and, where applicable, properly allocated position which, by virtue thereof, permits the employment of any of the persons in the exempt service, except for members of boards and commissions; experts or specialists performing temporary services; employees required to be covered by the State merit system; elected officials whose positions and salary and/or compensation is otherwise established by County Charter or State statute; and persons occupying temporary/seasonal, exempt service positions.

All of the categories of positions in the classified and exempt services, as defined in Sections 16-118 and 16-119, above, shall be either full-time positions or part-time positions. Full-time and part-time positions shall be defined as follows: A full-time position shall mean any classified or exempt service position where the authorization for the position is intended to permit the employment of one (1) person for the total number of hours within the standard work week. A part-time position shall mean any classified or exempt service position where the authorization for the position is intended to permit the employment of one (1) person for a stipulated number of hours each pay period where the total number of hours is less than the total number of hours for a full-time position.

An appointing authority may detail an employee under his/her jurisdiction to temporarily assume all or part of the duties, tasks, and responsibilities of any position for a period not to exceed ninety (90) consecutive calendar days, except as provided in Section 16-189(c), or interdepartmentally, when detailed by the County Executive or the County Executive's designee to any employee within the Executive Branch for a period not to exceed one hundred twenty (120) consecutive calendar days, except as provided in Section 16-189(c), under the following circumstances: To meet an emergency situation caused by: An abnormal and unanticipated workload; A temporary change in the functions of the agency; The absence of an incumbent from a position; For purposes of training which is designed to: Foster career development; or Facilitate the goals and timetables established under the County's equal opportunity plan; or To accommodate an employee's temporary disability as provided for under Section 16-189(c). Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (a), above, an appointing authority or the County Executive, as may be applicable and based upon a demonstrated need of the agency, may extend a detail beyond the initial period for one additional period not to exceed sixty (60) consecutive calendar days upon the approval of the Director of Human Resources Management. Any such detail shall be effectuated in writing by the appointing authority, or the County Executive or the County Executive's designee, as appropriate. Any employee who is detailed to the same level of duties shall retain their current salary status during the detail and, upon completion of such detail, shall reassume the regular duties and responsibilities of the position occupied by the employee. However, where an employee has been detailed to a higher graded position, the Director of Human Resources Management shall set a salary rate as determined by the appropriate salary plan; provided, however, an employee's salary rate upon detail shall not be established at a rate less than the minimum rate or in excess of the maximum rate within the applicable salary range. The foregoing provisions as to upward salary adjustments shall not apply to any detail effectuated pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)(A) or (B) of this Section regarding training.

Whenever a position or a group of positions is converted or made part of the County's personnel system under the terms of a State or County law or a governmental reorganization proposal issued and approved in accordance with the provisions of Section 503 of Article V of County Charter, the status of the affected incumbent or incumbents and position or positions shall be governed and determined by the specific provisions of the law in relation thereto. In the event that the law mandating the conversion of incumbents and positions into the County's personnel system makes no specific provision governing the incumbents' status and the classification of their positions, said incumbents' positions shall be transferred to the applicable agency, department, or office and allocated by the Director of Human Resources Management to comparable classes of work in the classified or exempt service, as appropriate.