Civil service reflects the idea that government functions best when the government hires on merit and not political patronage. This System designates those people employed in the civil administration of governments. It excludes elected officials, as well as the military, and includes the great majority of those who see to the every day functioning of the public sector, from the municipal level to the national level. In modern times, the term civil service has come to mean not just the strata of officials who administer government but a set of standards by which they are selected: Most civil servants throughout the world today are chosen based on competitive examinations and merit.

A brief history of civil service

No state of any extent can be ruled without a bureaucracy, but organizations of any size have been few until the modern era. Administrative institutions usually grow out of the personal servants of high officials, as in the Roman Empire. This developed a complex administrative structure, which is outlined in the Notitia Dignitatum and the work of John Lydus, but as far as we know appointments to it were made entirely by inheritance or patronage and not on merit, and it was also possible for officers to employ other people to carry out their official tasks but continue to draw their salary themselves. There are obvious parallels here with the early bureaucratic structures in modern states, such as the Office of Works or the Navy in 18th c entury England, where again appointments depended on patronage and were often bought and sold.

In 206 B.C.E. China was the first country to use “tests” to hire civil service officials during the Han dynasty. Prussia instituted a civil service in the mid-17th century based on merit and on a competitive basis. During the Napoleonic reforms France followed with a civil service system during the beginning of the 19th century. Competitive civil service rules came even later in the English-speaking world. In 1871, the first Civil Service Commission was established by Congress but it only lasted a few years. In New York City, the first civil service reform association was formed 1877, and in 1883 New York City and Brooklyn became the first cities in the nation to implement civil service regulations. New York City’s system inspired the national civil service movement, and the 1883 Pendleton Act reestablished a federal Civil Service Commission which still exists today.

New York Civil Service Law

In New York State, the merit system of civil service is enshrined in the state constitution. Article V, section 6 of the constitution states: Appointments and promotions in the civil service of the State and all of the civil divisions thereof, including cities and villages, shall be made according to merit and fitness to be ascertained, as far as practicable, by examination which, as far as practicable, shall be competitive. The state's Civil Service Law implements this mandate of the state constitution. It applies to state as well as municipal employment. Municipalities each have their own rules to implement the state Civil Service Law. In New York City, those rules are set by the New York City Civil Service Commission, and administered by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS).

Civil service and 375 members

The bulk of Local 375 members work in civil service titles subject to examinations in New York City. The union represents both workers who are "permanent," i.e., who have passed the civil service test for the title they are serving in, and workers who are "provisional," i.e., who have not passed the civil service test for the title they are serving in and were appointed provisionally to their job. The current NYC Civil Service rules and regulations as well as the NYC Personnel rules and regulation are under the “Employee & Agency Resources” tab, which can be found on the DCAS website. Civil service law is administered by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). Information on civil service exams, exam applications and deadlines are all available on their website.

When a civil service exam is given, a list is established afterwards from which city agencies hire. The list consists of all those who passed the test, ranked by their scores. New York State Civil Service Law requires agencies to utilize the list when they are hiring for that title, and requires them to consider the top three scorers remaining on this list; this is known as the “one-in-three rule”. Once a list is established, it remains in effect for one year, and can be extended for up to three additional years.
Provisional employees have no tenure rights. They may be initially appointed to their jobs if there is no list in effect at the time, but when a list is established following a test, agencies are required to hire from the list, and provisionals may lose their jobs as permanent civil servants are hired off the list.

There are two types of exams: "promotional exams" are open to those who hold a permanent civil service title in the same promotional line (e.g., someone who has a Assistant Engineering title would be eligible to take the full Engineering title for their specialty Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical etc. if they also had all other requirements for that title e.g. PE). While "open competitive exams" are open to anyone regardless of civil service title (there are still educational and other requirements). Local 375 strongly urges eligible provisional members to take a promotional exam for the title in which they are serving as soon as possible. We urge those without any civil service title to take an open competitiv e exam for the civil service title in direct line for promotion into their 375 title.

Recent Civil Service Bills & Decisions

City of Long Beach Decision:

This Court of Appeals case is centered on whether or not issues submitted by the Civil Service Employees Association (CESA) were subject to arbitration. This the history of the case includes a report issued by the New York State Civil Service Commission in the year 2004 noting that Long Beach had poor control over its provisional appointments in the civil service. Most importantly several positions in the competitive class have been filled with provisional appointments and one had been filled provisionally for a total of 19 years. The city determined that the provisional appointments violated Civil Service Law and terminated the employees. The CSEA filed grievances and demanded arbitration alleging that the employees were tenured.

The city brought an action to stop the arbitration. The Supreme Court granted the motion to stay the arbitration and the Appellate Division affirmed. Their reasoning behind the decision is that a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement to arbitrate these disputes violated Civil Service Law. Citing Civil Service Law section 65 (1) the court found that provisional appointments are allowed when there is no eligible list available for filling a vacancy in a competitive class and then for only a maximum of nine months. Furthermore, once a provisional employee has been in a position four months the City must hold a Civil Service examination. Section 65 allows no tenure to provisional employees and the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the C. S. E.A. is meaningless in light of the Civil Service Law.

Sometime in August of 2007, CESA lost their appeal. The result of this loss is that all state and NYC city provisional employees who have served for more than 9 months in their current title are subject to termination. This does not mean that all provisional employees will be immediately terminated. However, a New York State bill strikes an agreement to have a 5 year moratorium on the possible terminations. This agreement would give DCAS some breathing room to hold as many exams as possible in order to allow provisionals to become permanent, contingent upon their passing the exam, and getting hired from the resulting list. On January 28, 2008, New York State Governor Spitzer signed the agreement into law (state Bill # S 06495)

Read the bill here.

An Additional Provisional Bill

Another NYS Senate Bill (#S 1595), is working its way through the state legislature. It would require the department of civil service to periodically report the numbers of provisional and temporary employees who have been in state service for more than 9 and 18 months. This bill was sent to the state assembly and the Government Employees committee on February 4, 2008. You can read and keep track of the progress of this bill on the New York State’s website.

If there are any questions or suggestions for this page, please call Frank Thomas, Civil Service Chair, or Claude Fort, President, at 212-815-1375. E-mail at: fthomas@local375.org, cfort@local375.org