A. Prior to terminating or placing on leave without pay-layoff or equivalent status any employee of an agency or institution in the executive branch of state government, the management of the agency or institution shall make every effort to place the employee in any vacant position within the agency for which the employee is qualified. If reemployment within the agency or institution is not possible because there is no available position for which the employee is qualified or the position offered to the employee requires relocation or a reduction in salary, the name of the employee shall be forwarded to the Department of Human Resource Management (the "Department").

B. Any preferential employment rights vested in the employee under the Commonwealth's layoff policy shall not be denied, abridged, or modified in any way by the Department. The Department shall coordinate the preferential hiring of the employee, at the same salary classification, in any agency or institution of the executive branch of state government. The Department shall also establish a program to assist employees in finding employment outside of state government.

C. If, as of the date the employee is terminated from employment or placed on leave without pay-layoff or equivalent status, reemployment within his agency or institution or any other agency or institution of the executive branch of state government is not possible because there is no available position for which the employee is qualified or the position offered to the employee requires relocation or a reduction in salary, then the employee shall be deemed to be involuntarily separated. If such employee is otherwise eligible, he shall be entitled, under the conditions specified, to receive the transitional severance benefit conferred by this chapter.

D. The Department shall report all involuntary separations in the executive branch of state government to the Department of Planning and Budget, which shall make an appropriate reduction, pursuant to § 2.2-1501, in the terminating agency's maximum employment level in preparing its executive budget for the next session of the General Assembly.

1995, cc. 152, 811, § 2.1-116.21; 2000, cc. 66, 657; 2001, c. 844.