There shall be a Department of Civil Service, of which the head
shall be the Town of Hempstead Civil Service Commission. The Commission
shall consist of three members, appointed for terms of six years,
except that the first appointments shall be for terms of six, four
and two years, respectively. Not more than two members of the Civil
Service Commission shall at any one time be members of the same political
party. The members of the Civil Service Commission shall hold no other
office under the United States, the State of New York, or any county,
town, city, village, school district or special district; nor shall
they serve on any political committee or take an active part in the
management of any political campaign. They may be removed only as
provided in the Civil Service Law of the state for municipal civil
service commissions.
The Civil Service Commission shall annually elect one of its
members chairman. It shall appoint an Executive Director, and such
other officers and employees, within the appropriation therefor, as
it shall deem necessary for the performance of its duties. Whenever
practicable, the Executive Director shall be a person skilled in the
principles and methods of personnel administration and shall perform
such duties as may be required by the Commission.
Except as provided in this chapter, the Town of Hempstead Civil
Service Commission shall have, with reference to the Civil Service
of the Town of Hempstead, the powers and duties of a municipal civil
service commission as provided in the Civil Service Law of this state,
and shall be subject to supervision and control by the state Civil
Service Commission as are municipal civil service commissions. The
Supervisor shall have the powers and duties, with reference to the
Town of Hempstead Civil Service Commission, of the mayor of a city,
under the said Civil Service Law, except as provided in this chapter.
All officers and employees of the Town of Hempstead and of all
departments, offices, institutions and agencies thereof shall be members
of the classified service, except the following:
B. Heads of departments, including the members of all boards and commissions,
and including department heads as defined in the Suburban Town Law.
D. Employees of the Town Board.
The offices and positions in the classified service of the Town
of Hempstead shall be arranged in classes and filled in the same manner
as now or hereafter provided by the Civil Service Law of this state
in the case of offices and positions in the classified service of
cities; provided that the classification of offices and positions
in force on the date on which this chapter becomes effective in the
Town of Hempstead shall continue in force until modified by rules
and regulations adopted in due course by the Town of Hempstead Civil
Service Commission subject to the control and supervision of the state
Civil Service Commission.
In addition to such provisions as may limit removal or disciplinary
action with regard to employees, as set forth in the Civil Service
Law of the State of New York, and the rules for the classified service
of the Town of Hempstead as promulgated by the Town of Hempstead Civil
Service Commission, no employee of the Town of Hempstead in the noncompetitive
class or labor class of the Civil Service who has been in the service
of the Town of Hempstead continuously for a period of six months from
the date of his appointment shall be removed or otherwise subjected
to any disciplinary penalty except for incompetency or misconduct
shown after a hearing upon stated charges in the manner provided in
Section 75 of the Civil Service Law of the State of New York. Nothing
contained herein shall be deemed to limit removal of an employee at
the end of or during the term of probation, as provided by rule of
the Town of Hempstead Civil Service Commission.
The status of no person in the classified service of the Town
of Hempstead on the date on which this chapter becomes effective in
the Town of Hempstead, including pension rights, shall be affected
by the taking effect of this chapter.
It shall be the duty of the Town of Hempstead Civil Service
Commission to make investigations concerning the enforcement and effect
of this chapter, and to do everything in its power to secure observance
of the spirit and letter of the Civil Service Law.
[Added 4-26-2016 by L.L.
No. 36-2016, effective 5-3-2016]
A permanent competitive class employee may be granted a leave
of absence to serve in an exempt, unclassified or noncompetitive position.
Such leave of absence shall expire at the end of his/her employment
in such exempt, unclassified or noncompetitive class position, provided
that such service shall not continue more than two years. The Civil
Service Commission, in its discretion, may waive the time limitation
in two-year increments, in cases where it finds such a waiver to be
in the public interest.