28D.1 Declaration of policy.

The state of Iowa recognizes that intergovernmental co-operation is an essential factor in resolving problems affecting this state and that the interchange of personnel between and among governmental agencies at the same or different levels of government is a significant factor in achieving such co-operation.

28D.2 Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter:

1. "Receiving agency" means any department or agency of the federal government or a state or local government which receives an employee of another government under this chapter.

2. "Sending agency" means any department or agency of the federal government or a state or local government which sends any employee thereof to another government agency under this chapter.

28D.3 Authority to interchange employees.

1. Any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state, county, city, municipality, land-grant college, or college or university operated by the state or any local government is authorized to participate in a program of interchange of employees with departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the federal government, another state or locality, or other agencies, municipalities, or instrumentalities of this state as a sending or receiving agency.

2. The period of individual assignment or detail under an interchange program shall not exceed twenty-four months, except that an employee may be assigned for an additional twenty-four-month period upon the agreement of the employee and both the sending and receiving agencies. No employee shall be assigned or detailed without the employee's expressed consent or by using undue coercion to obtain said consent. Details relating to any matter covered in this chapter may be the subject of an agreement between the sending and receiving agencies. Elected officials shall not be assigned from a sending agency nor detailed to a receiving agency.

3. The period of individual assignment or detail may be terminated if the receiving agency offers a permanent appointment to the employee and both the sending and receiving agencies agree.

4. Persons employed by the energy and geological resources division of the department of natural resources under this chapter are not subject to the twenty-four-month time limitation specified in subsection 2.

28D.4 Status of employees.

1. Employees of a sending agency participating in an exchange of personnel as authorized in section 28D.3 may be considered during such participation to be:

a. On detail to regular work assignments of the sending agency, or

b. In a status of leave of absence from their positions in the sending agency.

2. Employees who are on detail shall be entitled to the same salary and benefits to which they would otherwise be entitled and shall remain employees of the sending agency for all other purposes except that the supervision of their duties during the period of detail may be governed by agreement between the sending agency and the receiving agency.

3. Employees who are in a leave of absence status as provided herein shall be carried on leave without pay; except they may be granted annual leave or other time off with pay to the extent authorized by law and may be granted authorized sick leave in circumstances considered by the sending agency to justify such leave. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, employees who are in a leave of absence status shall have the same rights, benefits, and obligations as employees generally who are in such leave status but notwithstanding any other provision of law such employees may be entitled to credit the period of such assignment toward benefits as employees of the sending agency.

4. Any employee who participates in an exchange under the terms of this section who suffers disability or death as a result of personal injury arising out of and in the course of an exchange, or sustained in performance of duties in connection therewith, shall be treated, for the purposes of the sending agency's employee compensation program, as an employee, as defined in such Act, who has sustained such injury in the performance of such duty, but shall not receive benefits under that Act for any period for which the employee is entitled to and elects to receive similar benefits under the receiving agency's employee compensation program.

28D.5 Travel expenses paid by sending agency.

A sending agency in this state may, in accordance with the travel regulations of such agency, pay the travel expenses of employees assigned to a receiving agency on either a detail or leave basis, but shall not pay the travel expenses of such employees incurred in connection with their work assignments at the receiving agency. If the assignment or detail will be for a period of time exceeding eight months, travel expenses may include expenses of transportation of immediate family, household goods, and personal effects to and from the location of the receiving agency. If the period of assignment is less than eight months, the sending agency may pay a per diem allowance to the employee on assignment or detail.

28D.6 Status of certain employees.

1. When any unit of government of this state acts as a receiving agency, employees of the sending agency who are assigned under authority of this chapter may be given appointments in the receiving agency covering the periods of such assignments, with compensation to be paid from receiving agency funds or without compensation, or be considered to be on detail to the receiving agency.

2. Appointments of persons so assigned may be made without regard to the laws or regulations governing the selection of employees of the receiving agency. However, if a permanent appointment made by a receiving agency pursuant to section 28D.3, subsection 3, is subject to chapter 400, section 400.7 shall govern the appointment.

3. Employees who are detailed to the receiving agency shall not by virtue of such detail be considered to be employees thereof, except as provided in subsection 4. The supervision of the duties of such employees, as well as the contribution of each agency to the salary or wage of such employees during the period of detail, may be governed by agreement between the sending agency and the receiving agency. The agreement shall be subject to the approval of the executive council for state participation and the local governing

4. Any employee of a sending agency assigned in this state who suffers disability or death as a result of personal injury arising out of and in the course of such assignment, or sustained in the performance of duties in connection therewith, shall be treated for the purpose of receiving agency's employee compensation program, as an employee, as defined in such Act, who has sustained such injury in the performance of such duty, but shall not receive benefits under that Act for any period for which the employee elects to receive similar benefits as an employee under the sending agency's employee compensation program.

28D.7 Travel expenses paid by receiving agency.

A receiving agency in this state may, in accordance with the travel regulations of such agency, pay travel expenses of persons assigned thereto under this chapter during the period of such assignments on the same basis as if they were regular employees of the receiving agency.

28D.8 Administration.

The department of personnel is hereby directed to explore means of implementing this chapter and to assist departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the state and its political subdivisions in participating in employee interchange programs.