TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Purpose
and effect of the Rules . . .
. . . 2
RULES
FOR THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE
Rule I
Definitions . . . . .
. . .
. 3
II
Powers and Duties of Personnel
Officer .
. . 4
III
Exempt Class. . . . .
. . .
. 5
IV
Non-Competitive Class. . . . .
. 6
V
Labor Class . . . . .
. . .
. 7
VI
Unclassified Service . . . . .
. 8
VII
Recruitment of Personnel. . .
. . 9
VIII
Applications. . . . .
. . . . 10
IX
Disqualification . . . .
. . . 11
X
Examinations. . . . .
. . . . 12
XI
Eligible Lists . . . . .
. . . 15
XII
Certification . .
. . .
. . . 16
XIII
Promotions . .
. . .
. . . . 19
XIV
Probationary Term . . . . .
. . 20
XV
Seasonal and Trainee Appointments.
. 24
XVI
Effect of Temporary, Provisional, or
Contingent Permanent Appointment on
Status of Appointee .
. . .
. . 26
XVII
Transfers. . .
. . .
. . . . 29
XVIII
Reinstatement . . . .
. . . . 30
XIX
Leave of Absence . . . .
. . . 32
XX
Resignation . . . . .
. . . . 33
XXI
Reports of Appointing Officers.
. . 34
XXII
Certification of Payrolls . . . . 35
XXIII
Classification Plan . . . .
. . 36
XXIV
Grading of Positions . . .
. . . 39
XXV
Layoff of Competitive Class Employees 40
XXVI
Prohibition Against Questions
Eliciting Information Concerning
Political Affiliation. .
. . . . 45
RULES
FOR THE CLASSIFIED CIVIL SERVICE
OF
PURPOSE
AND EFFECT
It is hereby declared to be the purpose of
these rules to provide an orderly and uniform system for the administration of
civil service in
RULE I
DEFINITIONS
Unless
otherwise expressly stated or unless the context or subject matter requires a
different meaning, the several terms hereinafter mentioned, whenever used in
these rules, shall be construed as follows:
1. "Compensation" means the
remuneration of a position and shall include food, lodging, maintenance and
commutation when the same is furnished.
2. "Eligible list" means an
official record kept in the Personnel Officer's office as a public record which
contains the names of those persons who have successfully completed
examinations, listed and ranked in order of their final ratings from the highest
to the lowest rank.
3. "Employee" means the
incumbent of a position holding the position in accordance with these rules and
the Civil Service Law.
4. "Municipality" means county,
town, village, school district or special district.
5. "Part-time employment" means
any employment or a combination of one or more employments in a civil division
in which an individual works fifty percent or less of the time prescribed as a
normal work week by the appropriate governing body or other appropriate authority
of the civil division.
6. "Personnel Officer" means
the county personnel officer of
7. "Position" means an office
or employment involving an aggregation of duties to be performed and
responsibilities to be exercised by one person.
8. "Reassignment" means the
change, without further examination, of a permanent employee from one position
to another similar position under the jurisdiction of the same appointing
authority.
9. "Transfer" means the change,
without further examination, of a permanent employee from a position under the
jurisdiction of one appointing authority to a similar position under the
jurisdiction of another appointing authority.
NOTE: The masculine gender shall include the
feminine and the feminine gender shall include the masculine. Wherever the word "He" appears,
read "He" or "She".
RULE
II
POWER
AND DUTIES OF PERSONNEL OFFICER
1. The Personnel Officer shall have all the
powers and duties of a county civil service commission.
2. The Personnel Officer may appoint
subordinates and employees, within available appropriations as he deems
necessary or proper to carry out the purposes of these rules and the law, and
shall fix the duties of these subordinates and employees.
3. The Personnel Officer shall keep true and
accurate records of his actions which shall be open to public inspection.
RULE
III
EXEMPT
CLASS
1. Positions in the exempt class are those for
which competitive or non-competitive examinations or other qualification
requirements are not practicable. (Civil
Service Law, Section 41.)
2. Positions approved by the State Civil Service
Commission for allocation to the exempt class shall be listed in Appendix A of
these rules and made a part hereof.
RULE
IV
NON-COMPETITIVE
CLASS
1. A position in the non-competitive class may
be filled by the appointment of a person who meets the minimum qualifications
established for such position by the Personnel Officer. A nomination for such an appointment shall
state the qualifications of the nominee and shall be filed by the appointing
authority with the Personnel Officer.
Such appointment shall become effective only after approval by the
Personnel Officer.
2. Positions approved by the State Civil Service
Commission pursuant to Section 42 of the Civil Service Law for placement in
the non-competitive class shall be listed in Appendix B of these rules. The Personnel Officer shall designate titles
in Appendix B that involve confidentiality or require the performance of
functions influencing policy for the purposes of excluding such positions from
the statutory provisions on removal and disciplinary proceedings.
RULE V
LABOR
CLASS
1. The labor class shall include unskilled
laborers.
2. A position in the labor class may be filled
by the appointment of any person selected by the appointing officer of the
agency where a vacancy exists, and the Personnel Officer may require applicants
for employment in the labor class to qualify in such tests of their fitness for
employment as may be deemed practicable.
3. Positions approved by the State Civil Service
Commission for allocation to the labor class shall be listed in Appendix C of
these rules and made a part hereof.
RULE
VI
UNCLASSIFIED
SERVICE
Positions approved by the State Civil
Service Commission for allocation to the unclassified service shall be listed
in Appendix D of these rules and made a part hereof.
RULE
VII
RECRUITMENT
OF PERSONNEL
1. Residence requirements for municipal
positions.
An applicant must be at the time of
examination and for at least one month prior thereto a resident of the
municipality in which appointment is to be made or any reasonable combination
of municipalities both in and outside of New York State contiguous to the municipality
in which appointment is to be made or contiguous to the municipality in which
such municipality is located as determined by the Personnel Officer. Residence requirements may be suspended by
the Personnel Officer in cases where it is advantageous to the public
interest. When preference in
certification is given to residents of a municipality pursuant to Subdivision
4-a of Section 23 of the Civil Service Law, an eligible must have been, at the
time of certification and for at least one month prior thereto, a resident of
such municipality in order to be included in a certification as a resident of
such municipality.
2. Announcements of examinations.
The
public announcement of an examination shall specify the application fee, if
any, the title, salary or salary range, the duties of the position, the minimum
qualification required, the final date for filing applications, the subjects
or scope of the examination and the relative weights thereof, and the date and
place of the examination. Public notice
of open competitive examinations shall be made at least twenty-five days
before the date of the examination and must be conspicuously posted in a public
place for fifteen days. The last day for
filing applications shall be at least ten days before the date of the
examination.
RULE
VIII
APPLICATIONS
1. a. Applications
of candidates for positions in the classified service must be addressed to the
Personnel Officer at the office of the Personnel Officer.
b. The
burden of establishing qualifications to the satisfaction of the Personnel
Officer shall be upon the applicant.
c. The
Personnel Officer shall notify applicants of the disposition of their
applications. Applicants for competitive
examination shall be given notice of their approval or disapproval at least
seven days before the examination.
2. The Personnel Officer shall notify each
applicant for competitive examination of the disposition of his application
after the last date of filing. Approved
applicants for competitive examination shall be given notice of their approval
at least four days before the examination, by mail to the address stated in
the application.
RULE
IX
DISQUALIFICATION
1. Any applicant may be disqualified for examination,
or after examination, for certification and appointment, who is not in
compliance with the standards and requirements set forth in Section 50 (4) of
the Civil Service Law.
2. The burden of establishing his qualifications
to the satisfaction of the Personnel Officer shall be upon the applicant. Any applicant who refuses to permit the Personnel
Officer to investigate matters necessary for the verification of his
qualifications or who otherwise hampers, impedes or fails to cooperate with
the Personnel Officer in such investigation shall be disqualified for
examination or, after examination, for certification and appointment.
RULE
X
EXAMINATIONS
1. The marking of each competitor's examination
shall be made on the scale of 100, which maximum shall represent the best
performance possible, expected or attained, and 70 shall represent a
performance meeting the minimum needs of the position to be filled. The Personnel Officer may, after the
announcement of an examination is made, subdivide the written examination into
parts and require a passing mark of 70 in each of the parts in order that
candidates be considered further for eligibility. Notice of such arrangement shall be given in
the instructions on the written examination.
Where the written test is prepared and rated by the State Civil Service
Commission in accordance with Section 23, subdivision 2 of the Civil Service
Law, the provisions of the rules and regulations of the State Civil Service
Commission and Department dealing with the rating of examinations shall apply.
2. The Personnel Officer shall adopt a system to
conceal the identity of the candidates' papers in a written examination until
such written examination has been rated.
3. For examinations prepared and rated by the
Personnel Officer, applications and examination records and papers of
candidates shall be preserved until at least six months after the expiration of
the eligible list resulting from such examination, but in no event may records
be destroyed except in accordance with the policies of the State Commissioner
of Education and the State Civil Service Commission. Whenever an oral test shall be prescribed as
part of an examination, a stenographic or recording device record of all the
questions and answers shall be made a part of the examination records.
4. Every candidate in an examination shall be
notified of his final rating and, if successful, of his relative position on
the eligible list established as a result of the examination. Any candidate receiving such notice, or his
duly authorized representative, may inspect his examination papers in the
office of the Personnel Officer and in the presence of a designated
representative of the Personnel Officer, provided he makes request for such
inspection in writing within the period of ten days after the date of the
postmark of such notice. The application
and examination papers of a candidate shall be exhibited only to the candidate
or his duly authorized representative designated as such in writing. The application of an eligible who is being
considered for appointment may be shown to the appointing officer.
5. (a) A candidate who wishes to appeal to the
Personnel Officer from his rating in one, or more, or all of the subjects of an
examination must submit such appeal in writing within twenty days after the
earliest date on which his examination papers were made available for his
inspection. Such appeal must show that a
manifest error was made in the original rating.
Such appeal shall be considered as opening all of the candidate's papers
for review, whether resulting in a higher or lower average standing. No change in rating shall be made as a result
of an appeal unless it shall affect the candidate's relative position on the
eligible list.
(b) For examinations prepared and rated
under Section 23 (2) of the Civil Service Law, the State Civil Service
Commission shall have sole and exclusive authority to correct any errors in
rating upon appeal or otherwise. The
review of papers by candidates and the filing of appeals in such examinations
shall be governed by the rules and regulations of the State Civil Service
Commission and Department.
(c) The Personnel Officer may, at any time
during the life of an eligible list resulting from an examination prepared and
rated by the Personnel Officer, correct any clerical or computational errors in
the ratings of candidates who competed in the examination.
(d) Any change in an eligible list pursuant
to this rule shall be made without prejudice to the status of any person
previously appointed as a result of such examination.
6. Rating keys shall be prepared for each
examination held. Such keys shall be a permanent part of the record of each
examination.
7. Examination material security. In order to prevent the unauthorized
publication and dissemination of examination material, the following acts are
prohibited except as authorized by the Commission.
a. No person shall copy, record, or transcribe
any examination question or answer; or remove from the examination room or
possess outside the examination room, any question sheet, answer sheet or
booklet, scrap papers, notes or any other papers or materials relating to such
examination.
b. A candidate in an examination shall not at
any time communicate with an examiner concerning the conduct or content of such
examination; and shall not directly or indirectly communicate to any other person information
concerning the content of such examination until completion of the testing of
all candidates.
No
examiner, proctor or other person charged with the supervision of a candidate
or group of candidates during an examination shall have authority to waive the
provisions of this subdivision. A person
who is found by the Personnel Officer to have violated the provisions of this
subdivision or any similar provision of the rules of any other civil service
jurisdiction within the State of New York shall be disqualified from
appointment to the position for which the examination is being held and may be
disqualified from being a candidate for any civil service examination for a
period of five years.
RULE
XI
ELIGIBLE
LISTS
1. Every candidate who attains a passing mark in
an examination as a whole and who meets the standards prescribed, if any, for separate
subjects or parts of subjects of the examination shall be eligible for appointment
to the position for which he was examined and his name shall be entered on the
eligible list in the order of his final rating; but if two or more eligibles
receive the same final rating in the examination, they shall be ranked in
accordance with such uniform, impartial procedure as may be prescribed
therefor by the Personnel Officer.
2. The date of the establishment of a list shall
be the date fixed therefor by the Personnel Officer, and shall be entered on
such list. The duration of all eligible
lists shall be fixed by the Personnel Officer prior to the establishment of
such lists, but shall not be less than one nor more than four years. The date of establishment of a list and its
duration shall be given to all successful candidates at the time when notice of
standing on the eligible list is given to such candidates. Where the duration of an eligible list is
fixed at less than four years, the Personnel Officer may, prior to the
expiration date of such list, extend the duration of the list up to the maximum
limitation of four years, provided that eligibles on such list are notified in
writing of the extension of the eligible list.
3. Eligible lists shall be open to public
inspection at the office of the Personnel Officer. The names of persons who failed to receive a
passing grade on the examination shall not be disclosed to the public.
4. The Personnel Officer shall have power in his
discretion to correct any error and amend any eligible list where it appears
that an error has been made. The Personnel
Officer shall have power to revoke any eligible list where the provisions of
these rules were not properly or sufficiently carried out; provided, however,
that an eligible list shall not be revoked except after notice and an
opportunity to be heard has been given to all persons whose names appear
thereon. The reasons for such action
shall be recorded and reported to the State Civil Service Commission.
RULE XII
CERTIFICATION
1. The Personnel Officer shall determine the
eligible list most nearly appropriate for the position to be filled, and shall
certify to the appointing authority a sufficient number of eligibles from which
selection for appointment may be made.
When the name of any eligible is included in a certification for
appointment, the names of all other eligibles on the list having the same final
rating as such eligible shall likewise be included in such certification.
2. A certification by the Personnel Officer to
an appointing authority shall be valid for a period of 60 days from the date of
its issuance.
3. When
an eligible is canvassed for appointment or is offered appointment in writing
and fails to state his willingness to accept such appointment within seven
calendar days after the mailing of such canvass or offer, he may be considered
ineligible for purposes of making selection for such particular appointment and
all future appointments from that list.
Thereafter, the eligible may request that his/her name be restored to
active status on such list, provided the list is still in existence. The eligible’s name may be restored to active
status on such list for future certifications if the Personnel Officer in his
discretion determines that the reasons for the previous non-response are
satisfactory.
4. The
name of the person declining appointment shall be eliminated from further
certification from the eligible list unless declination is for one or more of
the following reasons: (a) Insufficiency
of compensation offered; (b) Location of employment; (c) Temporary inability,
physical or otherwise, which must be satisfactorily explained by the eligible
in writing. (d) Other reasons deemed
acceptable by the Personnel Officer. The
Personnel Officer shall enter upon the eligible list the reasons for his action
in such cases.
5.
Except as otherwise provided herein, appointment or promotion to a position in
the competitive class shall be made by the selection of a person on the most
nearly appropriate eligible list who is willing to accept such appointment and
whose final rating of the third highest ranking eligible on the list indicating
willingness to accept such appointment.
The term "ranking" as used herein refers to the order in which
the names of eligibles appear on the eligible lists as provided in rule
eleven.
6.
Whenever a vacancy exists in a position in the competitive class and an open
competitive examination duly advertised results in three or fewer approved
applicants for the examination, the appointing officer may nominate to the
Personnel Officer one of the applicants who may be certified for appointment to
fill the vacancy without further examination, provided that he has already qualified
in an examination of equivalent character within the last four years from the
date of nomination.
7.
Wherever one or more eligibles shall have declined any appointment offered and
an eligible whose relative standing is lower and who was reachable on the
certification only because of the aforesaid declination shall have been
appointed to the position, the salary or compensation of such appointee shall
not be increased, except by a service or a class-wide increase, within a period
of six months after his appointment beyond that offered to the persons so
declining.
8. An
open-competitive, promotion or preferred eligible list shall not be certified
for filling a permanent competitive class vacancy created by reclassification
of a permanently encumbered competitive class position if appointment or
promotion from such list would require the layoff of a permanent competitive
class employee; but this provision shall not apply if the incumbent whose
position was reclassified following such reclassification, has either refused
to take an examination for such reclassified position or twice failed to
qualify for appointment, examination or promotion to the reclassified position.
9. When
a vacancy exists in a permanent competitive class position and a permanent
competitive class candidate in direct line of promotion, as defined in these
Rules, is nominated for non-competitive promotion examination in accordance
with Section 52(7) of the Civil Service Law, the Personnel Officer may
determine that the appropriate examination for such non‑competitive promotion
shall consist of a review of the candidate's training and experience at the
time of nomination.
If the Personnel Officer determines the
candidate's training and experience meets or exceeds the open competitive
qualifications for the position, the candidate shall be certified as eligible
for permanent promotion appointment to the position subject to probationary
period.
10. Whenever a vacancy exists in a position in the competitive class and an open-competitive examination duly advertised results in three or fewer approved applicants, and the announced minimum qualifications for the position included a requirement of possession of a license or certificate in a profession issued by the State of New York, the Personnel Officer may waive the examination and certify for appointment to the appointing authority the names of such qualified applicants, provided, however, that such applicants have been licensed or certified in the profession by the State of New York.
RULE
XIII
PROMOTIONS
1. Eligibility for Promotion
In
order to be eligible to participate in a promotion examination or to be
promoted a candidate must have been employed in a competitive class or
non-competitive class position on a permanent basis in a lower grade, either in
direct line of promotion or in a related
or collateral line of promotion as determined by the Personnel Officer. The Personnel Officer shall determine the minimum
period of such service for eligibility to enter a promotion examination, and
may also prescribe a minimum period of such service as a qualification for
promotion from the resulting eligible list.
2. Promotion from the Non-Competitive Class
Promotion
examinations for non-competitive class employees shall, in addition to the
requirements of Civil Service Law, Section 52 (12), require that applicants
shall have been employed in a full-time position.
3. Successive Nominations for Non-Competitive
Promotion
Any
candidate who is nominated for non-competitive examination for promotion to a
position and who fails to appear for such examination or who fails to pass two
successive examinations for such promotion shall not thereafter be eligible for
employment in such position, except by appointment or promotion from an eligible
list following competitive examination.
RULE XIV
PROBATIONARY
TERM
1. Probationary term.
a.
Except as herein otherwise provided, every permanent appointment from
an open competitive list and every original appointment to a position in the
non-competitive, exempt or labor class shall be for a probationary term of not
less than eight nor more than fifty-two weeks.
b.
The probationary term for training positions, in which an appointee is
required to serve a specified training term, shall be not less than twelve nor
more than fifty-two weeks.
c.
Every original appointment to the position of Director of Real Property
Tax Services II shall be for a probationary term of not less than twenty-six
nor more than fifty-two weeks.
d.
Every original appointment to a position of Assessor shall be for a
probationary term of not less than twenty-six nor more than fifty-two weeks.
e. An
appointment shall become permanent upon the retention of the probationer after
his completion of the maximum period of service or upon written notice following
completion of the minimum period of service that his probationary term is
successfully completed. A copy of such
notice shall be sent to the Personnel Officer.
If the conduct or performance of a
probationer is not satisfactory, his employment may be terminated at anytime
after the completion of the minimum period of service, and on or before
completion of the maximum period of service in the manner as prescribed in
these rules.
2. Promotions and transfers.
a.
An interdepartmental promotion or transfer means a promotion or transfer
from a position in one department to a position in another department. Every interdepartmental promotion or
transfer shall be for a probationary term of not less than four nor more than
twenty-six weeks. If the conduct or performance of the probationer is not
satisfactory, his employment in such position shall be discontinued at the end
of such term. For the purposes of this
subdivision, the term "promotion" shall include the appointment of an
employee to a higher grade position in the non-competitive or exempt class.
b. An intradepartmental promotion or transfer
means a promotion or transfer from a position within a department to another
position within the same department.
Every intradepartmental promotion or transfer shall be for a
probationary term of not less than four nor more than twenty-six weeks. If the conduct or performance of the
probationer is not satisfactory, his employment in such position shall be
discontinued at the end of such term.
For the purpose of this subdivision, the term "promotion"
shall include the appointment of an employee to a higher grade position in the
non-competitive or exempt class.
c. Every transfer from a position in one civil division to a position in another civil division shall require a probationary term of not less than a minimum of four weeks up to a maximum of twenty-six weeks. If the