Definitions as used in this chapter:

(a) “Classification” means that each position in the classified service shall have a designated title, a regular minimum number of assigned hours per day, days per week, and months per year, a specific statement of the duties required to be performed by the employees in each such position, and the regular monthly salary ranges for each such position.

(b) “Permanent” as used in the phrase “permanent employee” includes tenure in the classification in which the employee passed the required probationary period, and includes all of the incidents of that classification.

(c) “Regular” as used in the phrase “regular classified employee” or any similar phrase, refers to a classified employee who has probationary or permanent status.

(d) “Demotion” means assignment to an inferior position or status, without the employee’s written voluntary consent.

(e) “Disciplinary action” includes any action whereby an employee is deprived of any classification or any incident of any classification in which he has permanence, including dismissal, suspension, demotion, or any reassignment, without his voluntary consent, except a layoff for lack of work or lack of funds.

(f) “Reclassification” means the upgrading of a position to a higher classification as a result of the gradual increase of the duties being performed by the incumbent in such position.

(g) “Layoff for lack of funds or layoff for lack of work” includes any reduction in hours of employment or assignment to a class or grade lower than that in which the employee has permanence, voluntarily consented to by the employee, in order to avoid interruption of employment by layoff.

(h) “Cause” relating to disciplinary actions against classified employees means those grounds for discipline, or offenses, enumerated in the law or the written rules of a public school employer. No disciplinary action may be maintained for any “cause” other than as defined herein.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to school districts to which the provisions of Article 6 (commencing with Section 45240) of this chapter are applicable.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to any school district which, during the 1973–74 school year, had an average daily attendance of 100,000 or more.

(Enacted by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1010.)