Report faults Yonkers civil service appointment process
For Immediate release: December 22, 2009
A New York State Civil Service Commission review has found the City of Yonkers Civil Service Commission's generally does not comply with Civil Service Law and Rules when making provisional appointments.
While only 55 of 2,179 competitive class positions in Yonkers were filled provisionally when the review was conducted in January 2009-relatively few compared to other localities-just 19 of these appointments had been made properly, leaving the possibility that other individuals who had demonstrated their fitness by passing a competitive exam were being denied opportunity for employment.
The State Constitution requires that appointments to competitive class civil service positions be made insofar as practicable according to the results of a competitive exam. When eligible lists resulting from these exams have expired or contain fewer than three names, any individual who meets the minimum qualifications for the position may be appointed provisionally. Civil Service Law requires the jurisdiction to make arrangements for a new exam and limits provisional appointments to nine months, though they frequently exceed that limit.
The State report found 15 Yonkers employees who had been serving in provisional appointments in excess of five years. The Yonkers Commission lacked proper documentation for some other appointments and was slow in ordering new examinations in other cases. The report identified five specific improvements necessary to bring the Yonkers appointments process into full compliance with Civil Service Law and Rules. Some of the improvements have already been made. The State Commission directed Yonkers to submit a progress report and plan for accomplishing all the improvements by December 31.
The Department of Civil Service periodically conducts reviews of local jurisdictions to ensure that the merit system is administered in accordance with Civil Service Law and Rules. The reviews are submitted to and adopted by the State Civil Service Commission. These reviews assess practices in one or more of the following areas:
- adopting and enforcing rules regarding employment
- properly allocating positions to a jurisdictional class
- classifying positions
- conducting an examination program
- administration of the appointment process
- maintenance of required records
- reviewing and certifying payrolls
The Yonkers Commission has jurisdiction over a total of 2,179 competitive class employees-1,641 employed by the City, 481 by the Board of Education, and 57 by the Housing Authority.
"The New York State Department of Civil Service is committed to ensuring that municipal civil service commissions are implementing the Civil Service Law and Rules in a credible, trustworthy, fair, and efficient manner," said Nancy G. Groenwegen, Commissioner of the Department of Civil Service and President of the Civil Service Commission. "We are dedicated to assisting jurisdictions in accomplishing this goal."
Review the complete report:
Appointment Process Administration by the City of Yonkers Civil Service Commission(
91KB)
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