VR Associate, VR Service Specialist, VR Rehabilitation Specialist, Office Director I and Program Director I

When an employee in one of the above referenced classifications is approaching the completion of two years of employment in his/her classification, the manager/office director will review the employee’s performance to determine if promotion is warranted.

Employees who have had excessive absences may have his/her promotion eligibility date extended by the equivalent amount of time.

Recommendation for Promotion

The VR HR Program Director shall notify the manager/office director of the pending promotion eligibility and effective promotion dates. The majority of the time the promotion eligibility date will also be the employee’s continuous service date, but not always.

• When the promotion eligibility date and the continuous service date are the same the manager/office director, upon receiving a LINK-EDC email to begin the online review, shall notify the employee to begin their self-review immediately in order to meet the 14 day time frame for the first step of the performance review process.
• When the promotion eligibility date and the continuous service date are not the same, the manager/office director shall contact the VR HR Program Director to discuss if an off-cycle review is needed or if the previous annual performance review will suffice.

If the employee's performance meets expectations in all areas, the manager/office director shall send an email to the VR HR Program Director (pat.bracken@nebraska.gov) recommending promotion. A pdf copy of the most recent performance review should be attached.

The VR HR Program Director will prepare the recommendation for the VR Director to include the effective promotion date and the promotion salary. The effective date shall be the first day of the month following the 24th month in the classification unless circumstances warrant otherwise. Upon approval of the recommendation for promotion, the VR Director will send a letter notifying the employee of his/her promotion, the effective date and the promotion salary. The VR Director will also notify the NDE HR office.

Recommendation for Delayed Promotion

If the employee's performance does not warrant a recommendation for promotion, the Office Director will consult with the VR Director. If a decision is made to delay the promotion, the Office Director will develop in conjunction with NDE Legal Counsel, NDE HR and the VR HR Program Director a Plan of Action to define expectations, remedial activities and dates of achievement. The Plan of Action will be documented in the performance review.

• If the employee's continuous service date is the same as the promotion eligibility date or the continuous service date falls within 30 days prior to or 30 days following the promotion eligibility date the annual performance review should be completed.
• If the employee's continuous service date does not fall within 30 days prior to or 30 days following the promotion eligibility date, then an off-cycle performance review should be completed.

Time spent under an action plan will delay the promotion by an equivalent amount of time. (e.g., If the Plan of Action spans a 90-day period, the promotion eligibility date would be 90 days from the date the Plan of Action was satisfactorily completed.)