Relates to positions in the competitive class of the state

1 Co-sponsor

• Antoine M. Thompson

Title of bill

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to positions in the competitive class of the state

Purpose or general idea of bill

To amend the Civil Service Law to prohibit existing positions in the State civil service competitive class from being reclassified into the noncompetitive or exempt class.

Summary of specific provisions

This bill creates a new section 44-a of the Civil service Law to prohibit any existing position in the competitive class from being reclassified into the noncompetitive or exempt class.

Justification

The civil service system was created to protect the public by insuring that public sector jobs are filled by qualified workers. It also was intended to prevent cronyism and corruption by creating a fair process for filling positions. The bedrock of the civil service system is the competitive class. The key elements of the competitive class are that the applicant must meet minimum qualifications, that the applicant must take an examination and get a passing score, and that the job must be filled by one of the three highest scoring applicants. Most State positions are in the competitive class.

The courts have found that "there is a significant constitutional preference for competitive classification". BRYNIEN V NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE , (Supreme Court, Albany County, 2009). "Exemption is the exception and is constitutionally permissible only when it is established that competitive examination is not practicable" MCGOWAN V BURSTEIN 71 NY2ND AT 734 (1988 ). This preference for competitive examination is intended to insure that hiring is based on competence not cronyism.

However, the New York State Department of Civil Service (DCS) recently attempted to reclassify twenty-nine State job titles from the competitive class to the noncompetitive class. If this reclassification had been successful, these positions could have been filled without any examination at all, opening the door to favoritism in hiring. The reclassification was stopped by a court order when the Supreme Court found that the Department had failed to show any evidence that competitive examination was not feasible.

Although that particular reclassification has been blocked by the Court, DCS retains the power to attempt to reclassify other job titles. This bill is intended to follow the mandate of the State Constitution by preventing such reclassifications. The rationale for this is simple- the bill would apply to currently existing positions that are in the competitive class of the State civil service. Since those positions currently exist it is obvious that it is feasible to utilize competitive exams to fill them because they are currently being filled through the competitive examination process. Any attempt to reclassify such positions to the noncompetitive or exempt class is likely to be an attempt to avoid the civil service merit process in violation of the clear intent of the Constitution.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

Immediate.