Title 21 — Public Officers and Employees

(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly that each state agency, board, commission, and institution of higher education evaluate the performance of its employees annually. (b) (1) State agency, board, and commission employees shall be evaluated using an instrument approved by…

(a) When an officer or employee of a state office or agency excluded from the provisions of the Uniform Attendance and Leave Policy Act, § 21-4-201 et seq., by the definition of “state agencies” in § 21-4-203 leaves employment of the excluded office or agency and becomes employed…

(a) This section and § 19-4-1601 shall be known as and may be cited as the “Regular Salary Procedures and Restrictions Act”. (b) Arkansas Constitution, Article 16, § 4, provides: “Except as provided in Arkansas Constitution, Article 19, § 31, the General Assembly shall fix the sa…

(a) The Department of Health is authorized to pay from maintenance and operation appropriations of either state or federal funds, as reimbursement of actual costs to any regular and full-time employee of the Department of Health, the excess cost to the employee for insurance cove…

If, in any year, the funds available for the payment of salaries of elected county officers and employees of a county are inadequate to pay all such salaries and it becomes necessary to reduce salaries, the salary of each elected constitutional officer and each employee in the co…

(a) No state, county, or municipal employer in this state shall deduct from the usual compensation of any employee, all or any part of the fees or compensation received by the employee for appearing for grand or petit jury duty or serving on any grand or petit jury in any court i…

A.C.A. § 21-5-105Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) (A) Employees of state agencies shall become eligible for annual career service recognition payments upon completion of ten (10) or more years of service in either elected positions or classified or nonclassified positions with a state agency.(B) To receive the full amoun…

(a) (1) A person holding more than one (1) elective office shall be entitled to receive compensation from only one (1) of the offices held.(2) The person shall select the office from which he or she may receive compensation by filing a statement with the Secretary of State and th…

The annual salaries of court reporters and case coordinators shall be paid in twenty-four (24) equal semimonthly installments.

(a) (1) (A) As a condition of employment, a person hired or appointed to a position in any agency in state government on or after August 12, 2005, shall be required to accept payment of salary or wages by electronic warrants transfer.(B) The electronic warrants transfer shall be …

(a) (1) The State Insurance Department shall maintain the Arkansas Firefighter Cancer Relief Network Trust Fund.(2) (A) The purpose of the fund is to fund relief for firefighters who are diagnosed with cancer and participating in a firefighter cancer relief network created and go…

(a) (1) The Department of Transformation and Shared Services is authorized to develop and establish a merit increase pay system in accordance with the performance evaluation process under § 21-5-1001 et seq. for employees of all state agencies, boards, and commissions covered by …

(a) The Department of Human Services may issue nursing/direct care recruitment and retention bonuses in addition to the maximum annual amounts provided for regular salaries in the operative appropriation act for the department for:(1) Registered nurses;(2) Licensed practical nurs…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Firefighter” means a person who is a:(A) Paid, full-time member of a fire department or firefighting unit of a public employer and who actively engages in the fighting of fires on a regular basis;(B) Paid, full-time instructor of the Arkansas Fire…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Emergency nature or contingency” means:(A) Any case or imminent danger of invasion, disaster, insurrection, riot, or breach of peace;(B) A threat to the public health or security; or(C) A threat to the maintenance of law and order; and(2) “Stat…

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Uniform Attendance and Leave Policy Act, § 21-4-201 et seq., during the period that an employee of a state agency or institution of higher education is called to active duty after September 11, 2001, as a member of the National Guard or a…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, during the period that an employee of a public school district is called to active duty after September 11, 2001, as a member of the National Guard or any of the reserve components of the armed services by order of the President of the United St…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) “Agency” means a board, commission, department, officer, or other authority of the government of the State of Arkansas.(B) “Agency” does not include the General Assembly, the courts, and Governor; and(2) “Savings program” means an account as…

(a) When a state employee begins his or her employment with an agency, the agency shall notify the state employee of:(1) Each savings program that is available; and(2) The state employee's ability to have a regular distribution made to a savings program from his or her salary bef…

This subchapter may be referred to and cited as the “Uniform Classification and Compensation Act”.

(a) It is the purpose and intent of this subchapter to establish uniform classifications for all affected state employees of agencies, boards, commissions, and institutions of higher education covered by the provisions of this subchapter and to establish a uniform compensation pl…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Agency director” means the head of an independent executive state agency who has autonomous authority over the administration and operations of the state agency;(2) “Apprenticeship” means an employee who is learning a trade or obtaining other j…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this subchapter does not apply to:(1) The employees of:(A) Elected constitutional officers of this state;(B) The General Assembly, including employees of the Bureau of Legislative Research and Arkansas Legislative Audit; a…

(a) All appropriation acts of all state agencies subject to the provisions of this subchapter shall be governed by the provisions of this subchapter with respect to grades, class titles, salary increases, salary increase eligibility, and other provisions unless special language i…

(1) In order to assist the General Assembly in more efficiently performing its constitutional duty, that being “… the number and salaries of the clerks and employees of the different departments of the State shall be fixed by law”, the Legislative Council shall:(1) Review the est…

(a) It shall be the duty of the Office of Personnel Management to perform the following administrative responsibilities, subject to this subchapter:(1) To determine that each position of a state agency affected by this subchapter is allocated to a class having a written job descr…

(a) There are established for state agencies covered by this subchapter the following classification titles and grades. (b) The following classification titles with grades indicated are approved for the state classification plan, subject to the appropriation acts for the various …

(a) There is established for state agencies covered by this subchapter a compensation plan for the setting of salaries and salary increases, when deserved, of all employees serving in positions covered by this subchapter. (b) An employee whose salary falls below the entry pay lev…

(a) For the purposes of implementing the uniform employee classification and compensation plan for the respective agencies covered by this subchapter, the General Assembly determines that the job descriptions prepared by the Office of Personnel Management in classifying the vario…

(a) The Office of Personnel Management has administrative responsibility for enforcing compliance by state agencies affected by this subchapter in implementing classification and grade changes. (b) (1) If the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State and the Secretary of the Department o…

A.C.A. § 21-5-212Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

A.C.A. § 21-5-213Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) A new appointment to a position in a state agency covered by this subchapter shall be paid at the entry pay level for the grade assigned to the classification unless otherwise authorized by law. (b) Special rates of pay may be established for either classifications or positio…

A.C.A. § 21-5-215Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

A.C.A. § 21-5-216Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

A.C.A. § 21-5-217Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

Whereas Arkansas Rehabilitation Services currently purchases and sells staff interpreter services for the deaf with four (4) other agencies, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind, and the …

A.C.A. § 21-5-219Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) Upon the approval of the Office of Personnel Management, an employee whose working hours do not conform to normal state business hours shall be eligible for additional compensation up to twelve percent (12%) of the hourly rate for which he or she is eligible under this su…

(a) To address specific employee compensation needs not otherwise provided for in this subchapter, a state agency may pay additional compensation for current employees in specific positions or for classifications of positions assigned to a compensation plan authorized by the Gene…

(a) (1) A state agency may request that a salary administration grid be approved for specific classifications or positions if the:(A) State agency has documented the need for a salary administration grid for specified positions or classifications;(B) Terms and conditions of a gri…

(a) (1) If the agency director or the secretary of a cabinet-level department determines that it is necessary to implement the state workforce reduction policy due to state agency organization structure change, budgetary reductions, abolishment of positions or duties, loss of fun…

(a) (1) A position authorized as extra help in a state agency shall be assigned an authorized classification by the state agency, and any person hired in an extra help position shall meet the minimum qualifications and any other requirements set by the official job description of…

(a) (1) There is established a pool of five hundred (500) positions assigned to the Office of Personnel Management to be used to reclassify positions in state agencies to the proper classification and grade if the state agency does not have a vacant position available with the ap…

(a) (1) The General Assembly finds that determining the maximum amount of an appropriation, the purpose for the expenditure of appropriations, and funding and personnel for a state agency, state department, or state institution each fiscal year is the prerogative of the General A…

(a) (1) A state agency may provide a special compensation award to an employee:(A) To recognize the employee's outstanding performance in successfully completing a significant project or job assignment or completing a major project milestone; or(B) Due to the assignment of tempor…

(a) (1) A state agency may offer a recruitment incentive in connection with an offer of employment to a prospective employee to assist with recruitment efforts.(2) The state agency shall determine whether to offer a recruitment incentive and, if so, the type of incentive to offer…

(a) The State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Program is established to manage life and health insurance plan options for the benefit of state employees, state employee retirees, public school employees, and public school employee retirees. (b) It is the purpose of th…

A.C.A. § 21-5-402Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved