At its regularly scheduled public meeting, held in Albany, NY on March 15, 2017, the State Civil Service Commission approved multiple positions in this job title for placement outside of the competitive class. Article V, section 6, of the State Constitution requires that appointments in the classified service of the State 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…” In Civil Service Law sections 41 and 42, the Legislature has set forth classes of positions for which competitive examination is not practicable, thereby authorizing the filling of positions in the exempt and non-competitive jurisdictional classes, respectively. The State Civil Service Commission may place positions and titles in exempt and non-competitive classes in accordance with powers conferred by section 6 of the Civil Service Law.

Thirty-four (34) public comments were received opposing the Commission’s placement of the positions subject to this rule making outside of the competitive class. All submitters identified themselves as current or former State employees or as affiliated with the Public Employees Association Inc., AFL-CIO. Almost all of the public comments were duplicative “form letter”-style responses. No public comment clearly set forth why competitive examination was practicable for the subject positions or proposed any alternative to the proposed rule making, other than to posit that the proposed jurisdictional classification was somehow contrary to or a purported circumvention of the merit system. By contrast, the appointing authority and Department of Civil Service personnel professionals have established, in detail, why competitive examination would be impracticable for the subject positions based upon the carefully articulated duties and qualifications necessary for successful job performance. Accordingly, the Commission continues to find that these positions properly belong outside of the competitive class and this amendment to the Appendices of Title 4 of NYCRR has been approved for adoption without modification.