When a currently employed extra-help employee takes an extra-help opportunity in a higher-paying classification without a break in service and at the time is receiving a base salary equal to, or greater than, the minimum base rate for the higher classification, that extra-help employee shall be entitled to the next step in the salary schedule of the higher classification which is at least one step above the rate they have been receiving, except that the next step shall not exceed the maximum salary of the higher classification.
A break in service is defined as twenty-eight (28) consecutive calendar days during which the extra-help employee was not in a pay status, except where the absence from pay status was due to an approved leave of absence or a period during which the extra-help employee would not normally be scheduled to work.