HomeMy WebLinkAboutJ - 08 Personnel/Civil Service CorrespondenceCortland County
Personnel/Civil Service
60 Central Avenue
Cortland NY 13045-2746
607-753-5076
www.cortland-co.org/personnel
LAURIE L. LEONARD PAM ABBOTT
PERSONNEL OFFICER DEPUTY PERSONNEL OFFICER
TO: Thomas Williams, Town Supervisor
FROM: Laurie Leonard, Cortland County Personnel/Civil Service Officer
RE: Civil Service Law Section 63 Amendment – Provisional Service and Probation
DATE: October 19, 2023
Civil Service Law Section 63 regarding provisional appointments was recently amended with an effective
date of September 7, 2023 (see attached). The Cortland County Personnel/Civil Service Department just
received guidance from State Civil Service on October 13, 2023.
This amendment requires that any time spent as a provisional employee be counted towards an
employee’s probationary term upon receiving a permanent appointment to the same title.
Therefore, any provisional employee that receives permanent appointment to the same title that they were
serving in provisionally on or after September 7, 2023, shall have all time in provisional status counted
towards completing the required probationary period. For the provisional service to count towards
completion of the probation, the permanent appointment must be immediately following the provisional
service in the same title in the same agency.
This amendment changes the way you should evaluate a provisional employee. Up until now, you would
essentially have two periods of time to evaluate an employee who is appointed provisionally: during their
provisional time and during their probationary period. Now, if you have a provisional employee who has
been provisional for more than the maximum probationary period (generally 52 weeks), they will be
considered to have passed probation as soon as they are appointed permanently from an eligible list.
It is therefore very important that you consider an employee’s performance during their time in
provisional status to determine their work performance. A provisional employee can be terminated at any
time. Be sure to thoughtfully consider appointments from eligible lists.
As a reminder, provisional employees are those that are in competitive class titles (ie. need to complete a
civil service test) and have been hired prior to completing the test. According to our records, you
currently have 2 employees that are provisional and are affected by this amendment. Please review your
list of current employees and their titles. Let our office know of any additional competitive class
provisional employees that you have as soon as possible as they may also be affected by this amendment.
If you have any questions or want to review your employees with our office, please send your list to
Pamela Abbott, Deputy Personnel Officer, at pabbott@cortland-co.org or fax 607-758-5517. She will
review and call you to discuss.
KATHY HOCHUL
Governor
TIMOTHY R. HOGUES
Commissioner
PAR-13-23
POLICY ADVISORY REPORT
TO: All Municipal Civil Service Agencies & DCAS
FROM: Municipal Services Division
SUBJECT: Amendment to Section 63 of the Civil Service Law - Provisional
Service & Probation
DATE: October 13, 2023
The purpose of this policy advisory report is to notify all local civil service agencies
of an amendment to section 63 of the Civil Service Law which became effective on
September 7, 2023, as Chapter 356 of the Laws of 2023.
The intent of this statute is to streamline the appointment process by requiring
any time spent as a provisional employee to be counted towards an employee’s
probationary term upon receiving a permanent appointment to the same title. Through
no fault of their own, provisional appointees serve without the benefits of permanent
competitive class status. According to the sponsors of the legislation, individuals
serving provisionally for long periods of time before becoming permanent employees
became subject to “two probationary periods” during which they could be terminated: the
first as “at-will” provisional employees; the second following permanent appointment
during probation.
To address this issue, section 63(1) of the Civil Service Law has been amended to
include the following language:
“Notwithstanding the foregoing or any law or rule to the contrary, any person
appointed provisionally in accordance with section sixty-five of this title who
receives a permanent appointment to the same title shall have all time spent as a
provisional appointment credited to any probationary term that is required upon
permanent appointment to a position.”
Based on the above, any provisional employee that receives a permanent appointment
to the same title that they were serving in provisionally on or after September 7, 2023,
shall have all the time in provisional status counted towards completing the required
probationary period provided in your agency’s civil service rules. This change
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does not impact individuals who served provisionally and were permanently appointed
prior to September 7, 2023.
This statute applies only to provisional employees appointed in accordance with
section 65 of the Civil Service Law (CSL) and does not apply to employees appointed on
a temporary basis in accordance with section 64 of CSL.
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