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the employee with the earliest seniority date in an affected title shall be

deemed to have the greater seniority. Further tie breaking procedures shall

be developed by the Committee and applied consistently.
(2) Role of the Employment Security Committee

The Committee shall meet at least bimonthly to discuss open issues
related to the redeployment process. Such issues shall include, but not be

limited to: comparability determinations; vacancy availability; information
sharing in hiring and redeployment; dispute resolution; Civil Service layoff

procedures; hardship claims from individual employees in the
redeployment process. The Committee shall also explore the viability of

expanding the redeployment concept to other reduction in force situations.
(3) Grievability and Dispute Resolution

a. The application of terms of the Appendix shall be grievable only up
to Step III of the provisions of Article 34 (Grievance and Arbitration

Procedure).
b. Disputes raised to the Step III level will be reviewed by the

Employment Security Committee for attempted resolution. If a decision
must eventually be rendered and no resolution is agreed to, the decision

shall be issued pursuant to the procedures outlined in Article 34.1(b).
B. EDUCATION STIPEND

(1) Eligibility
a. The Education Stipend shall solely apply to permanent employees who

are eligible as per Article 22.1, who have agreed to accept the terms as set
forth herein and have been notified of their acceptance by the State.

b. Employees who have exercised one of the options described in Section

22.1(b)(ii), (iii) of the Agreement and related Appendices shall be ineligible
for the Education Stipend set forth herein.
(2) Stipend

An employee may elect to receive an Education Stipend for full tuition

and fees at an educational institution or organization of the employee’s
choosing to pursue course work or training offered by such institution or

organization provided, however, that the employee meets the entrance
and/or course enrollment requirements. The maximum stipend cannot

exceed the one year (two semesters) SUNY tuition maximum for Resident
Graduate Students. Such tuition will be paid by the State directly to the

institution in which the employee is pursuing course work, subject to
certification of payment by the agency.

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