Continuation of employment in a position upon its jurisdictional reclassification to the competitive class

Continuation of employment in a position upon its jurisdictional reclassification to the competitive class
Matter of Civil Serv. Employees Assn., Inc., Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v Mennillo, 38 A.D.3d 1113

Suzanne Burns was permanently appointed to the noncompetitive position of computer aide by the City of Schenectady in 2000. About four years later the Schenectady County Civil Service Commission jurisdictionally reclassified the position into the competitive class. The Commission then told Burns that she would be required to qualify by competitive examination in order to continue in the jurisdictionally reclassified position.

Burns sued, contending that she attained permanent competitive status when her position was jurisdictionally reclassified from the noncompetitive class to the competitive class. Supreme Court ruled that Burns was entitled to continue in her position as a computer aide without examination, despite the jurisdictional reclassification of the position to competitive. The Appellate Division agreed.

The Appellate Division rejected the Schenectady Civil Service Commission’s contention that Burns had to qualify by competitive examination to attain permanent competitive status in the reclassified position. Citing Matter of Bell v County of Warren, 111 AD2d 428, the court said that “Civil service employees, in the noncompetitive class, whose positions are subsequently reclassified into the competitive class may continue in their positions without examination.”*

According to the ruling, the record demonstrated that despite reclassification, Burns' job and responsibilities remained unchanged during her four years in the position.**

Accordingly, the Appellate Division ruled that Burns was entitled to maintain her employment without successfully completing a civil service examination, even though the position has been jurisdictionally reclassified from noncompetitive class to competitive class.

* See, also, Fornara v Schroeder, 261 NY 363. In Fornara the court said that an individual lawfully appointed to a position that is jurisdictionally reclassified to the competitive class is continued in the competitive class position without further examination.

** Jurisdictional classification and jurisdictional reclassification involve determinations placing positions in the classified service in the competitive, exempt, noncompetitive or labor classes [Section 2.10, Civil Service Law]. In contrast, position classification involves the evaluation of the duties and responsibilities of a position and placing it in a group of positions with a common and descriptive title [Section 2.11, Civil Service Law]. Positions in the unclassified service, consisting essentially of elected officials, the members and staffs of legislative bodies, department heads and educators are described in Section 35 of the Civil Service Law