Any permanent classified employee of a community college district, who voluntarily resigns from his or her permanent classified position, may be reinstated or reemployed by the governing board of the district, within 39 months after the employee’s last day of paid service and without further competitive examination, to a position in his or her former classification as a permanent or limited-term employee, or as a permanent or limited-term employee in a related lower class or a lower class in which the employee formerly had permanent status.
If the governing board elects to reinstate or reemploy a person as a permanent employee under this section, it shall disregard the break in service of the employee and classify him or her as, and restore to the employee all of the rights, benefits and burdens of, a permanent employee in the class to which he or she is reinstated or reemployed.