|
Banding Civil Service Results |
 |
 |
 |
CONTACT: ALAN SHAPIRO or BRYAN DECKER 617‐523‐2500
JUDGE ORDERS HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION TO NOT “BAND” SCORES ON POLICE PROMOTIONAL ELIGIBILITY LISTS
MAJOR VICTORY FOR THE BOSTON POLICE PATROLMEN’S ASSOCIATION AND MASSACHUSETTS COALITION OF POLICE
In a case filed by the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA) and the Massachusetts Coalition of Police (MCOP), Superior Court Judge Bruce Henry today ordered the Human Resources Division (HRD) to NOT “band” scores on police promotional eligibility lists. This is a significant victory for the merit based principles on which the Civil Service system is established.
HRD is the state agency responsible for administering and scoring civil service tests for police promotions. After an exam is administered, HRD creates “eligibility lists” for promotion based on the scores achieved by the test takers. HRD’s rules require the agency to rank scores in order of “whole numbers.” In other words, HRD ranked both 88.4 and 88.1 as an 88. Once the lists are established, a municipality will normally select the highest ranked candidate for promotion. Under Civil Service law, a municipality may “bypass” the highest ranked candidate for a lower ranked candidate, but must justify its decision to do so in writing, and the “bypassed” candidate has a right to challenge the process in a hearing.
In February, HRD announced the “whole number” scoring would no longer apply, and that it intended to rank scores in groups, or “bands” of up to seven points. In other words, an officer with a 95 would be “tied” with an officer with a perfect 100 score. Given the blatant violation of the rule, the BPPA and MCOP, through their attorneys at Sandulli Grace, PC, filed suit. After the Civil Service Commission sided with HRD, the Unions sought a court injunction against banding. In his decision, Judge Henry ordered that HRD is “enjoined from issuing eligibility lists for promotions of police officers in score bands rather than” in whole numbers from 1‐100. He based the issuance of an injunction on the finding that “[t]he scoring bands are a significant change in the manner of scoring and establishing the eligibility lists and that change should have been put in place using the procedure established by the Legislature for making a significant change in the rules.” The Judge ruled, however, that HRD is free “to issu[e] eligibility lists in the same fashion that it has done so for years.” BPPA President Thomas Nee and MCOP President Hugh Cameron applauded the decision. In a joint statement, they said “As police officers, we must have faith in the civil service system and in the fact that promotions will be ‘merit based.’ That faith was tested here by HRD, but the Superior Court has restored it.”
|
