Sec. 659.256. PROMOTIONS. (a) This section applies only to positions classified under the state's position classification plan.

(b) A promotion is an employee's change in duty assignment within a state agency from one classified position to another classified position that:

(1) is in a salary group with a higher minimum salary rate;

(2) requires higher qualifications, such as greater skill or longer experience; and

(3) involves a higher level of responsibility.

(c) When an employee is promoted to a position in a higher salary group in Salary Schedule A of the General Appropriations Act, the employee shall receive a salary rate at least one step higher than the employee's salary rate before promotion or the minimum rate of the new salary range, whichever is higher, and may, at the discretion of the state agency administrator, receive an annual salary rate up to and including the maximum rate of the new salary range. When an employee is promoted from a position in Salary Schedule B or C of the General Appropriations Act to a position in Salary Schedule A of the General Appropriations Act, the employee shall receive a step rate that is at least one step above the rate the employee received before promotion or the minimum rate of the new salary range, whichever is higher, and may, at the discretion of the state agency administrator, receive an annual rate up to and including the maximum rate of the new salary range.

(d) When an employee is promoted in Salary Schedule B of the General Appropriations Act or from Salary Schedule A or C of the General Appropriations Act to Salary Schedule B of the General Appropriations Act, the employee shall receive a salary rate that is at least 3.4 percent higher than the employee's salary before promotion or the minimum rate of the new salary range, whichever is higher, and may, at the discretion of the state agency administrator, receive an annual rate up to and including the maximum rate of the new salary range.

(e) When an employee is promoted in Salary Schedule C of the General Appropriations Act or from Salary Schedule A or B of the General Appropriations Act to Salary Schedule C of the General Appropriations Act, the employee shall receive the rate set in the schedule for that salary group.

(f) Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section, an employee whose salary prior to promotion exceeds the maximum rate of the employee's assigned salary group may not receive more than the maximum rate of the new salary group, even if the increase is less than one step in Salary Schedule A of the General Appropriations Act or 3.4 percent in Salary Schedule B of the General Appropriations Act.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 279, Sec. 16, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.