When it becomes necessary, through lack of work or funds, to reduce the force in the Department of Fire & Rescue Operations, the employee with the least Departmental Seniority shall be laid off first.
When a position above the rank of Fire Private is abolished, then the person with least amount of service in the rank to be reduced shall be demoted first. Provided the employee affected has been permanently certified to the position, he/she shall then displace the employee in the next lower rank who has the least amount of service in that rank. This process shall continue to repeat itself until such time as the rank of Fire Private shall be reached, at which point the Fire Private with the least amount of continuous service in the Department shall be the one laid off.
Should a position in the Department be recreated or re-established or should a vacancy occur through any cause within the term of this agreement consistent with Civil Service policy, then the employee with the most Departmental seniority in the Department among the employees laid off shall be entitled to the position providing he/she was at the date of his layoff a regular and permanently certified employee at the rank in which such vacancy has occurred, or higher.