21.10 Leave for Civil Service Examinations

Attendance and Leave Manual

ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE MANUAL
POLICY BULLETIN 2026-01
Section 21.10
July 2026

TO: Manual Recipients
FROM: Benjamin Gifford, Director of Staffing Services Operations
SUBJECT: Leave Policy for Civil Service Examinations at Computer Based Testing (CBT) Centers

The Department of Civil Service (DCS) is undertaking a comprehensive strategic planning effort to develop the future vision for the civil service merit system in New York State. This transformation is focused on customer service, sustainability, and onboarding best practices aimed at recruiting the next generation of public employees and leaders. The goal of this transformation initiative is to improve and modernize the examination process for job seekers and to reduce the time and cost associated with hiring, onboarding and retaining qualified candidates for State agencies.

As part of this undertaking, the Department will be opening Computer Based Testing (CBT) Centers across the State. These CBT Centers will offer online multiple choice civil service promotion examinations for current State employees that have applied to and have been approved (qualified) for examinations. CBT Centers will be open Tuesday – Sunday, and employees will be able to self-schedule the date and time they will take a civil service examination at a CBT Center near their home or worksite. The dates and times of each examination that is offered at a CBT Center will vary.

Attendance Rule Section 21.10 – Leave for Civil Service Examinations which has provided leave with pay without charge to leave accruals for Civil Service Examinations since 1957, remains unchanged and in full effect. The following information addresses leave under Attendance Rule 21.10 and outlines the DCS recommended model process for scheduling employee examinations that occur during regularly scheduled work hours.
When employees self-schedule a Civil Service examination at a CBT Center, agencies should make a reasonable effort to allow leave with pay without charge to accruals for the actual time of the examination and travel time to and from the closest examination center. Travel time should be calculated based on travel from the employee’s worksite to the examination site and vice versa. For employees in telecommuting status on the date of an examination, the employee’s worksite would be their designated telecommuting location (e.g. their home).

Such paid leave for a Civil Service examination may be granted to the extent that the resulting absence will not unreasonably interfere with an agency's operations. Employees are encouraged to notify their supervisor of intent to take an examination as soon as practicable. Employees must submit any requests for leave pursuant to this policy once they have scheduled their exam. Failure to request leave promptly may limit the available exam scheduling options and/or impact the agency’s ability to operationally accommodate such leave requests. Agencies may use the attached Civil Service Exam Leave Request Form. Alternatively, agencies may develop their own form, so long as it contains all relevant information.

Agencies should not unduly deny paid leave requested for Civil Service examinations. Agencies may engage with employees to determine a day and time for an examination that is amenable to both the employee and the agency. For certain examinations, DCS will proactively work with agencies during the examination scheduling process to ensure adequate staffing levels and to limit overtime. As part of this consultation process, agencies may designate specific dates/times that an employee may be released from duty to take an examination.

It should be noted that employees who attend a Civil Service examination outside of their regular work schedule do so on their own time. Employees do not need to request Leave for Civil Service Exams for any exam taken outside their scheduled work hours or workdays. Employees are not granted compensatory time off for Civil Service examinations that occur on pass days. Employees are not entitled to overtime compensation when the time it takes to complete an examination extends past the end of their regularly scheduled workday.

Agencies may require proof or verification that an employee has completed a Civil Service examination as a condition of granting paid examination leave. Information such as the title of the examination, the status of the examination, and the time the examination was submitted serve as a sufficient form of proof that the employee completed the exam. The employee can access this information via the New York State Department of Civil Service Online Testing System and share this information with their Supervisor and/or Human Resources, if needed.

There may be instances where an examination is cancelled, postponed, or delayed. Employees should be held harmless in such an event and should receive paid leave for travel time to and from the CBT Center and any time spent at the CBT Center. For any cancelled or postponed examination, employees should report back to their worksite, or request use of appropriate accruals if they’re unable to return to their worksite. Employees must receive Leave for Civil Service Examinations for absences related to both the originally scheduled examination date and the rescheduled examination date.

As part of the examination process, pre-rating reviews and computational reviews for online examinations may also take place at the CBT Centers. An employee who takes time off to participate in any review of or to appeal a Civil Service examination must charge the absence to personal leave, vacation, holiday leave, VRWS credits or non-compensatory overtime. Sick leave may not be used. An appointing authority may not deny such leave to an employee if as a result the employee is, in fact, denied the right to review or appeal an examination the employee has taken.

Extent of Leave
Agencies should exercise sound discretion in determining the amount of paid leave to be granted to employees taking Civil Service examinations at CBT Centers. Such paid leave should include the actual time of the examination and reasonable travel time to and from the nearest CBT Center. Leave for Civil Service examinations applies to examinations held in a CBT Center or designated testing location (i.e., in-person examinations only). It does not apply to Training and Experience examinations which an employee can complete at any time.

Employees who request and are granted a reasonable accommodation by the Department of Civil Service for additional time on an examination are entitled to leave with pay without charge to accruals for the additional examination time and travel time to and from the closest examination center. For employees who require a reasonable accommodation due to a conflict with a religious observance, agencies must engage in an interactive process and accommodate scheduling an examination at a CBT Center.

Whether an employee must work before or after a Civil Service examination would be dependent on the scheduled examination time, their travel time and scheduled work shift. For example, for an employee who is scheduled for a 9 AM examination (with an 8:30 AM arrival time) and who works an 8 AM - 4 PM work schedule, it would be appropriate to allow paid leave from 8 AM until they return to their worksite after examination completion. Agencies must ensure that employees are granted a reasonable amount of travel time to get to and from a CBT Center.

An employee may be required to either work prior to the Civil Service examination or may be allowed to charge appropriate accruals, with supervisory approval. This same principle applies to the end of an employee’s work shift as well. For example, employees who have completed an examination, depending on the end of their scheduled shift, may be required to return to their office/worksite or if the amount of time remaining in the employee's work shift after calculating reasonable travel time from the examination site to the worksite is such that the employee’s return to work is impractical, the agency may permit the employee, upon request, to charge the remaining time to accrued leave credits.

Agencies and employees are reminded that an employee has the option to charge appropriate leave accruals (i.e., credits other than sick leave) if they don’t wish to avail themselves of Civil Service Exam Leave.

Meal Periods
For health and productivity reasons, supervisors must ensure that employees take a meal period. This also ensures an overtime eligible employee does not inadvertently work overtime or earn overtime compensatory time (i.e., time worked between 37.5 and 40 hours) when returning to their work site and working until the end of their scheduled shift. An employee who is scheduled for a 9 AM examination (with an 8:30 AM arrival time) should be allowed to take their unpaid meal period after the examination and prior to returning to their worksite to complete their workday. For an employee who is scheduled for an 11 AM – 3 PM examination, it would be appropriate to allow their unpaid meal period either prior to or after the examination. This means that they would have to be released from the worksite with enough time to account for their travel to the examination site and taking a half hour unpaid meal period and/or be allowed to return to work after the examination allowing for travel time and their unpaid meal period.

Employees Who Work Shifts
CSEA Units: CSEA employees who are scheduled to work during the eight-hour period immediately preceding the time they are to report for a New York State Civil Service online examination at a CBT Center, should be granted time off without charge to leave credits during such period. However, if it is not possible to grant the time off because of the need to maintain essential services, the employees may not be allowed any form of compensatory time off or granted any special relief or consideration with respect to the examination itself. The employee may only be provided leave with pay without charge to leave accruals in order to participate in the examination. The need to schedule overtime may not be used as a reason for denying the time off that is contemplated by this item. A CSEA employee who works a regular day shift (e.g., 8 AM – 4 PM) and is scheduled for an 11 AM examination, should be allowed the morning before the examination off without charge to accruals if they request the morning off and they are not considered an essential employee.

Security Services Units and Security Supervisors Unit: Employees in these units may not be required to work any work shift which ends less than eight hours before they are scheduled to compete in a New York SCivitate l Service examination and may not be required to charge leave credits for any absences from work during such work shift which are approved for purposes of taking such examination.

See Attendance Rule Section 21.10 – Leave for Civil Service Examinations for additional information regarding Work Shifts Immediately Prior To Examinations.

Management Confidential (M/C): For M/C employees whose work shift ends less than eight hours prior to the starting time of a Civil Service examination, such employee may be allowed leave with pay without charge to
leave credits for part or all of such shift at the discretion of the appointing authority. If the employee can be spared, such time off must be with pay without charge to credits.

For your convenience, attached is the “Civil Service Examination Leave Request Form.” It is recommended that employees submit a request for Civil Service Examination Leave once the CBT self-scheduling window opens and a test session is scheduled. The request should be submitted to the employee’s supervisor, and the supervisor should approve or disapprove the request as soon as possible. Agencies may also require Human Resources Office approval, at their discretion. If the request is denied, the supervisor should give a brief explanation indicating a valid operational reason for the denial and the employee should be made aware of the denial in a timely manner so they may reschedule their examination. Requests that are approved should also be returned to the employee in a timely manner. The approval process for Leave for Civil Service Examinations is conducted between the employee and the agency. DCS cannot approve or deny requests for Civil Service Examination Leave.

The provisions of this process are not grievable.

This process will remain in effect until new guidance is provided, or this Policy Bulletin is revoked. The Department of Civil Service reserves the right to rescind this policy at any time.

Questions can be directed to the Attendance and Leave Unit of the Department of Civil Service at (518) 457-2295.

Attachment

Revision History	TM-6 - January 1991
All pages	New or Revised Material

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ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE MANUAL POLICY BULLETIN 2026-01 Section 21.10 July 2026

ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE MANUAL
POLICY BULLETIN 2026-01
Section 21.10
July 2026