8.40.030 Right to recall.
A. Employers shall offer their laid-off employees in writing, by registered mail to the laid-off employee’s last known physical address, and by email and text message to the extent the employer possesses such information, all job positions which become available after this chapter’s effective date for which the laid-off employees are qualified. A laid-off employee is qualified for a position if the laid-off employee:
1. Held the same or similar position at the covered enterprise at the time of the laid-off employee’s most recent separation from active service with the employer; or
2. Is or can be qualified for the position with the same training that would be provided to a new employee hired into that position.
Employers shall offer positions to laid-off employees first to laid-off employees that qualify under subsection (A)(1) of this section, and second to laid-off employees that qualify under subsection (A)(2) of this section. Where more than one laid-off employee is entitled to preference for a position, employers shall offer the position to the laid-off employee with the greatest length of service for the covered enterprise.
B. A laid-off employee who is offered a position pursuant to this chapter shall have no less than ten days from the date of receipt of the mailed offer to accept or decline the offer. Employers may make simultaneous, conditional offers of employment to laid-off employees, with the final offer of employment conditioned on application of the priority order set forth in subsection A of this section.
C. An employer that declines to recall a laid-off employee because the employee is not qualified for the position and instead hires someone other than a laid-off employee shall provide the laid-off employee a written notice within thirty days specifying the basis for determining the laid-off employee is not qualified for the position.
D. The requirements of this chapter shall apply to covered enterprises notwithstanding the occurrence of any of the following:
1. The ownership of the employer changed after a laid-off employee’s separation from employment, but the covered enterprise is conducting the same or similar operations as before January 31, 2020;
2. The form of organization of the employer changed after January 31, 2020;
3. Substantially all of the assets of the employer were acquired by another entity which conducts the same or similar operations using substantially the same assets;
4. The employer relocated the covered enterprise at which a laid-off employee was employed before January 31, 2020, to a different location within the city; or
5. Any combination of the circumstances described in subsections (D)(1) through (4) of this section.
(Ord. 2773 NCS §3, 2021.)