17
ing up in the state service. Now indi
viduals who have qualified through
competitive examinations will be certi
fied to these vacancies as they occur.
During the past year sixteen promo
tional examinations have been conduct
ed. Announcements have recently been
issued on many other classes for which
promotional examinations will be given
in the very near future. Many employees
will receive promotional opportunities
as these examinations are given. The
tempo of the examination program is
now at a high point and will continue
to'increase during the coming year.
Work Hours Being Standardized
Since its establishment, the Civil Ser
vice Commission has worked constantly
toward the standardization of hours of
work for state employees. By rule the
Commission established the 40-hour
week for most Categories of employ
ment. This resulted in a 5 -day week for
many positions. Hours have been sub
stantially reduced in state institutions,
but it has not been possible to date to
completely establish equity in hours be
cause-.’o f i budgetary limitations. H ow
ever, the new Civil Service Pay Plan
and the institutional budgets which will
be recommended to the next legislature
provide for a 40-hour week for many
institutional employees and for a pay
differential for classifications which re
quire 44 and 48-hour work weeks. Bud
get requests provide for a sufficient
number of additional positions to make
the shorter work weeks possible. I
Leaves, Vacations and Holidays
Prior to the adoption of the Civil
Service Rules and Regulations, there
wa§ no established policy on sick leave.
Some departments \ were very liberal in
granting sick leave w ith pay, while
others provided none at all. In numer
ous departments, there was no consist^
ancy/in application of sick leave to i n
dividual employees. Some were penal
ized while others., received leave faiyand
above what might normally be expect
ed, The present ..sick leave program
tablishes I definite accruals in an ade
quate amount and provides for com
plete equity of treatment of all classi
fied employees.;
Vacation leave provisions also varied
between departments priojClto the es
tablishment of the Civil Service pro
gram. Vacation was granted at the dis
cretion of the appointing authority,
and while some departments had well
developed policies, p r a c t i c e s varied
greatly between departments. Many
employees received no vacation / leave
while in other cases an appointing au
thority might'i'grant as much as four
weeks per year. The Civil Service rules
establish equity among all classified
employees in accumulation of leave as
■well as in its application^
In the past, many employees received
no credit for Holidays. For example,
Highway hourly rate employees and
the majority of employees in institu
tions were not granted the established
holidays while the majority of state em
ployees r e iv e d 'tim e off or were given
additional pay if required to work on
these daysf Fair and equal treatment
with regard to holidays is now assured
all employees in the Civil Service regu
lations.
Employees' Problems Cared For
The Civil Service Commission has re
ceived numerous appeals from employees
on dismissal, pay, and many other
items. A solution to a majority of these
appeals has been worked out without
the necessity of carrying the appeal to
the Commission itself. Though there
are several such situations every month,
each individual case receives no partic
ular publicity; thus the value of such
assistance is apparent, only to individ-
•u&ls/concerned. These eases-are settled
through the regular procedure of a
thorough investigation of each case that
is brought to the attention of the Civil
Service staff. Very often the appeal
may result from -a misunderstanding of
the Civil Service Rules and Regulations
or accepted policy. A discussion with
the appointing /.au th o rity and the em
ployee results^ih application of success-