As used in this chapter the following terms mean:

(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 or she has permanence, including dismissal, suspension, demotion, or any reassignment, without his or her 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 that 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 community college employer. No disciplinary action may be maintained for any “cause” other than as defined herein.

This section shall not apply to districts to which Article 3 (commencing with Section 88060) is applicable.

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

(Amended by Stats. 1995, Ch. 758, Sec. 186. Effective January 1, 1996.)