Seniority

Seniority

"Seniority" is the concept of a person or group of people being in charge or in command of another person or group. This control is often granted to the senior person(s) due to experience or length of service in a given position, but it is not uncommon for a senior person(s) to have less experience or length of service than their subordinates.

As length of service

More generally, "seniority" can be a "description" of an individual's experience or length of service, and can thus be used to differentiate between individuals of otherwise equivalent status without placing them in a hierarchy of direct authority. For example, in the United States Senate, the senator from each state with the longer tenure is known as the "senior senator" and carries some additional responsibilities to their state's constituents, but they are not formally dominant (or commanding) in any way over the junior senator (unless, for example, the senior senator is chair of a committee on which the junior senator serves). Seniority (in the sense of the amount of time with an employer) may be the sole determining factor of pay, as with certain teachers or airline pilots.

In politics

Additionally seniority gives politicians who have been in the House or the Senate longer more choices on which committee they would like to be in and on decisions that they think are crucial. Members with seniority are also the incumbent and have a much higher chance of being re-elected for a position.

In unionised companies

In unionised companies, employees may enjoy more work privileges, such as shifts deemed more favourable, work deemed easier or more pleasurable, or assignment to work, when a work reduction, or a reduction in available work hours results in lay offs, whereby the preference for those who may stay and work is assigned as a function of seniority ("first hired" = last fired, or "last on, first off"). Seniority also has an influence over bumping rights, which is a re-assignment of jobs, possibly for many people at a time.

Subordinates are generally expected to follow the actions, orders, or requests of those senior to them with little or no question.

In human relationships

Seniority is present in most common relationships, be it between parents and children, siblings of different ages, or workers and their managers. It plays a large part in military and paramilitary command structures.

ee also

*authority
*list of current United States Senators by seniority
*seniority (financial)


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  • seniority — se·nior·i·ty /sēn yȯr ə tē/ n 1: the quality or state of being senior 2: the senior status attained by length of continuous service (as in a company); also: the length of such continuous service Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam… …   Law dictionary

  • Seniority — Sen*ior i*ty, n. The quality or state of being senior. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • seniority — priority on office or service, mid 15c.; see SENIOR (Cf. senior) + ITY (Cf. ity) …   Etymology dictionary

  • seniority — [n] rank in organization due to length of service advantage, antiquity, eldership, precedence, preference, priority, rank, ranking, standing, station, superiority; concepts 671,727 …   New thesaurus

  • seniority — [sēn yôr′ə tē, sēnyär′ə tē] n. pl. seniorities [ML senioritas] 1. the state or quality of being senior; precedence in birth, rank, etc. 2. status, priority, or precedence achieved by length of service, as in a given job …   English World dictionary

  • seniority — noun VERB + SENIORITY ▪ have ▪ lose SENIORITY + NOUN ▪ system ▪ It is believed that the seniority system reduces competition between co workers. PREPOSITI …   Collocations dictionary

  • Seniority — The order of repayment. In the event of bankruptcy, senior debt must be repaid before subordinated debt is repaid. The New York Times Financial Glossary * * * seniority se‧ni‧or‧i‧ty [ˌsiːniˈɒrti ǁ ˈɔː , ˈɑː ] noun [uncountable] 1. the fact of… …   Financial and business terms

  • seniority — The order of repayment. In the event of bankruptcy, senior debt must be repaid before subordinated debt is repaid. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary * * * seniority se‧ni‧or‧i‧ty [ˌsiːniˈɒrti ǁ ˈɔː , ˈɑː ] noun [uncountable] 1. the fact of being… …   Financial and business terms

  • seniority — n. according to, by seniority (to promote according to seniority) * * * [ˌsiːnɪ ɒrɪtɪ] by seniority (to promote according to seniority) according to …   Combinatory dictionary

  • seniority — se|ni|or|i|ty [ˌsi:niˈɔrıti US ˈo: , ˈa: ] n [U] 1.) if you have seniority in a company or organization, you have worked there a long time and have some official advantages ▪ I had fifteen years seniority , and they couldn t fire me. 2.) when you …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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