44956
. Any permanent employee whose services have been terminated
as provided in Section 44955 shall have the following rights:
(a) For the period of 39 months from the date of the termination,
any employee who in the meantime has not attained the age of 65 years
shall have the preferred right to reappointment, in the order of
original employment as determined by the board in accordance with
Sections 44831 to 44855, inclusive, if the number of employees is
increased or the discontinued service is reestablished, with no
requirements that were not imposed upon other employees who continued
in service; provided, that no probationary or other employee with
less seniority shall be employed to render a service that the
employee is certificated and competent to render. However, prior to
reappointing any employee to teach a subject that he or she has not
previously taught, and for which he or she does not have a teaching
credential or that is not within the employee's major area of
postsecondary study or the equivalent thereof, the governing board
shall require the employee to pass a subject matter competency test
in the appropriate subject.
(b) The right to reappointment described in subdivision (a) may be
waived by the employee, without prejudice, for not more than one
school year, unless the board extends this right, but the waiver
shall not deprive the employee of his or her right to subsequent
offers of reappointment.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a school district may deviate
from reappointing a certificated employee in order of seniority for
either of the following reasons:
(1) The district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to
teach a specific course or course of study, or to provide services
authorized by a services credential with a specialization in either
pupil personnel services or health for a school nurse, and that the
employee has special training and experience necessary to teach that
course or course of study, or to provide those services, that others
with more seniority do not possess.
(2) For purposes of maintaining or achieving compliance with
constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws.
(d) As to any employee who is reappointed, the period of his or
her absence shall be treated as a leave of absence and shall not be
considered as a break in the continuity of his or her service, he or
she shall retain the classification and order of employment he or she
had when his or her services were terminated, and credit for prior
service under any state or district retirement system shall not be
affected by such termination, but the period of his or her absence
shall not count as a part of the service required for retirement.
(e) During the period of his or her preferred right to
reappointment, an employee shall, in the order of original
employment, be offered prior opportunity for substitute service
during the absence of any other employee who has been granted a leave
of absence or who is temporarily absent from duty; provided, that
his or her services may be terminated upon the return to duty of the
other employee and that substitute service shall not affect the
retention of his or her previous classification and rights. If, in
any school year the employee serves as a substitute in any position
requiring certification for 21 days or more within a period of 60
schooldays, the compensation the employee receives for substitute
service in that 60-day period, including his or her first 20 days of
substitute service, shall be not less than the amount the employee
would receive if he or she were being reappointed.
(f) (1) During the period of the employee's preferred right to
reappointment, the governing board of the district, if it is also the
governing board of one or more other districts, may assign him or
her to service, which he or she is certificated and competent to
render, in another district or districts; provided, that the
compensation he or she receives therefor may, in the discretion of
the governing board, be the same as he or she would have received had
he or she been serving in the district from which his or her
services were terminated, that his or her service in the other
district or districts shall be counted toward the period required for
both state and local retirement as though rendered in the district
from which his or her services were terminated, and that no permanent
employee in the other district or districts shall be displaced by
him or her.
(2) It is the intent of this subdivision that the employees of a
school district, the governing board of which is also the governing
board of one or more other school districts, shall not be at a
disadvantage as compared with employees of a unified school district.
(g) At any time prior to the completion of one year after his or
her return to service, he or she may continue or make up, with
interest, his or her own contributions to any state or district
retirement system, for the period of his or her absence, but it shall
not be obligatory on state or district to match those contributions.
(h) Should he or she become disabled or reach retirement age at
any time before his or her return to service, he or she shall
receive, in any state or district retirement system of which he or
she was a member, all benefits to which he or she would have been
entitled had such event occurred at the time of his or her
termination of service, plus any benefits he or she may have
qualified for thereafter, as though still employed.