In accordance with our new contract, employees in durational positions can now achieve permanent status after a 6-month working test period, similar to all other new hires. All durational employees who were hired prior to August 1, 2017 have now achieved permanent status...Congratulations!
It is the employee status which now changes after a 6 month working test period, the position remains durational with a limited time frame for funding. So if/when funding expires, the employee in the durational position may receive a layoff notice but will now have contractual layoff language and re-hire rights. Also, employees who successfully transition from durational to permanent will now have full access to the contract including: PL days, AWS, paid holidays, military leave, step movement, etc.
This was a change that has been needed for years, it never made sense why employees hired into a durational position could be employed for years yet never receive PL days, step movement, etc, and when seperated from service they would have any re-hire rights. Those days are over and they should be.