Appointments and promotions in the classified service of the City shall be made according to merit and fitness, to be ascertained, wherever there is more than one qualified applicant, by competitive examination. Merit and fitness being equal seniority shall prevail.
All promotions in the Classified Service, where there are in such service personnel possessing the minimum qualifications to qualify for such promotion, shall be limited to persons in the Classified Service, unless the Personnel Board finds and declares that in its opinion, the best interests of the public service require such examination to be open and competitive and not restricted to persons in the Classified Service.
Existing System. The ordinance establishing a Civil Service System, and the rules and regulations adopted thereunder, in effect at the effective date of this Charter are hereby repealed. All employees who have attained regular or probationary status or have been placed on eligible lists, or who have been granted military or other leaves of absence, under the existing Civil Service System, shall retain their respective rights subject to the provisions of this Charter.
The Civil Service of the City shall be divided into the Unclassified and the Classified Service.
(a) 
The Unclassified Service shall comprise the following officers and positions:
1. 
All elective officers;
2. 
City Manager;
3. 
Assistant City Manager;
4. 
One private secretary to the City Manager;
5. 
All members of boards and commissions;
6. 
Positions in any class or grade created for a special or temporary purpose, and which would exist for a period of not longer than ninety days. The Personnel Board, upon application of the appointing officer of board, and after public notice and hearing, by the affirmative votes of four of the members, may exempt any position in any class or grade for a maximum period of six months in any calendar year. Any such exemption shall not affect the tenure of any person whose appointment has become final under civil service;
7. 
Persons employed to render professional, scientific, technical or expert service of an occasional and exceptional character;
8. 
Crossing guards; and
9. 
Part-time employees paid on an hourly or per diem basis.
(b) 
The Classified Service shall comprise all positions not specifically included by this section in the Unclassified Service.
In the event an officer or employee of the City, holding a position in the Classified Service, is appointed to a position in the Unclassified Service, and should subsequently be removed or resign therefrom within six months, he shall revert to his former position in the Classified Service without loss of any rights or privileges and upon the same terms and conditions as if he had remained in said position continuously, unless charges are filed and he is discharged in the manner provided for in this Charter and the rules established hereunder for positions in the Classified Service.
The City Manager shall make periodic studies of the classification and grading of positions and shall submit to the Personnel Board any changes which he deems desirable to better classify positions according to similarity of authority, duties and responsibilities.
The Personnel Board shall hold a public hearing thereon at which officers and employees affected thereby and others interested and desiring to be heard shall be given an opportunity to do so. Upon approval by the Personnel Board, they shall be referred to the City Council for final consideration and adoption.
Examinations of applicants for positions in the Classified Service shall be practical and relate to those matters which fairly test the relative capacity of the applicants to discharge the duties of the position to which they seek to be appointed.
No person may be an applicant who is not a legal resident of the United States.
Except for City elective officers, emergency personnel and persons employed by the City of Compton shall reside within a reasonable distance of his or her place of employment with the City.
In all entrance examinations for positions in the Classified Service, veterans who served in the armed forces of the United States during time of war and prior to the cessation of hostilities, and who attain a passing grade, shall be allowed an additional preferential credit of (10%) percent in the case of those veterans who have service-connected disabilities and of five (5%) percent as to other veterans, which percentages are to be based upon the maximum grade for such examinations.
Upon the receipt of notice of a vacancy in the Classified Service, the clerk of the Personnel Board shall certify to the appointing power names of the three highest candidates on the eligible list for such position. No candidate may be certified more than three times for any one classified position.
The Personnel Board, with the consent of the appointing power, may authorize the certification of less than three names for appointment in the event there remains less than three names on an eligible list and in the opinion of the Personnel Board conditions warrant such action. When no eligible lists are available, the Personnel Board, under such rules and regulations as it shall prescribe, may authorize the appointing power to make temporary appointments in the Classified Service, in order to prevent the stoppage of public business and in order to meet extraordinary conditions, which appointments shall remain in force until regular appointments can be made, but in no case to exceed ninety (90) days in any calendar year.
If sufficient number of applicants for a position in the Classified Service is not received, after advertising therefore has been completed in conformity with this Charter and Rules and Regulations, adopted hereunder, the Personnel Board may authorize an examination to proceed as to a lesser number of qualified applicants.
All original appointments shall be for a probationary period of one year during which the employee may be rejected at any time without right of appeal or hearing in any manner.
All promotional appointments shall be for a probationary period of six months during which time the employee may be rejected at any time without right of appeal or hearing in any manner. An employee rejected during the probationary period from a position to which he has been promoted, shall be reinstated to the position from which he was promoted, unless charges are filed and he is discharged as provided in the Charter and the rules.
Whenever it becomes necessary, in the opinion of the City Council, to abolish a position, or to reduce the number of employees in a given class, in the Classified Service, the City Council may do so, by stating in its proceedings its reasons therefore. Should such position, or positions, be renewed or any position or positions involving substantially the same duties be created or filled within one year, the employee or employees discharged shall be entitled to be appointed thereto.
All lay-offs occasioned by the abolishment of a position or the reduction in number of employees in a given class shall be governed by seniority in service and shall be in the reverse order of employment. Re-employment shall be in the reverse order of the lay-offs.
The City Council and the elective and appointive officers having appointive power are vested with the right to exercise the disciplinary and removal powers hereinafter provided.
An employee serving a probationary period in any office, position or employment shall be subject to removal therefrom without right of appeal but subject to his right of reinstatement to the position in the Classified Service from which he has promoted, or transferred, if any.
An employee other than one serving a probationary period, holding a position in the Classified Service shall be subject to suspension without pay for a period of not exceeding thirty (30) days in any one (1) calendar year, or to demotion or removal from his position, for misconduct, incompetency, inefficiency, or for failure to observe the rules or regulations of the department, office or agency, or to cooperate reasonably with his superiors or fellow employees, but subject to the right of the employee to appeal to the Personnel Board in the manner set forth herein.
Such employee shall be entitled to receive, upon request, at the office of the board or officer taking such action, not later than the second business day thereafter, a written statement in item form of the reasons therefore, a copy of which statement shall be furnished the Personnel Board. He shall have ten (10) days after the receipt of such statement within which to file an answer to such statement of charges should he desire to do so.
The answer shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk and with the Clerk of the Personnel Board. In his answer, or if no statement of charges has been made available to him as required, such employee may request a hearing by Personnel Board to review such suspension, demotion or removal which shall be called and held as provided for in the rules and regulations. Hearings may be conducted informally and the rules of evidence need not apply.
Within ten (10) days after concluding the hearing, the Personnel Board shall certify its findings and recommendations to the City Manager. The suspension, demotion, or removal order by the City Manager or other official, from whose action the appeal was taken, shall be sustained unless the said Board shall by majority vote, render its decision finding that the suspension, demotion, or removal was made without sufficient cause. If the Board shall find that the person suspended, demoted, removed was so suspended, demoted or removed without sufficient cause, said Board in its order shall provide that said person shall be reinstated forthwith to the position from which he was suspended, demoted or removed, and shall order paid to him the salary to which he would have been entitled had he not been suspended, demoted or removed. In filing its decision, the Board shall also make and file written findings of fact covering in general terms the issues involved.
In the absent of fraud or bad faith, the findings and decisions of the said Board shall be final and conclusive.
A reduction in pay shall be a demotion, under this section, unless it is a part of a plan to reduce salaries and wages in connection with a general economy or curtailment program.
The City Manager and any other officer or board in whom is vested by law the power to make transfers, promotions, demotions, reinstatements, lay-offs, and to suspend or dismiss employees, shall retain such power subject to the provisions of this Charter and the rules established hereunder, it being the intent and spirit of this Charter to provide a fair and just approach to municipal employment in order that city employees may be selected and promoted on a merit basis, but in no sense to impair the efficiency of the public service.
No person holding a position in the Classified Service shall engage in any activities supporting or opposing the election of any public officer or any state or local ballot measure either during that employee's normal City working hours or at any City facility. Nothing in the section shall be construed to prevent any such person from being or becoming a member of a political club or organization, or from attending political meetings or engaging in political activity while at work as a City employee, or from enjoying entire freedom from all interference in casting his vote, or from seeking election or appointment to public office.
No person in the Classified Service, or seeking admission thereto, shall be employed, promoted, demoted or discharged or in any way favored or discriminated against because of political opinions or affiliation or because of race, ethnicity, gender, national origin or religious belief.
No officer or employee of the city and no candidate for any city office shall, directly or indirectly, solicit any assessment, subscription or contribution, whether voluntary or involuntary, for any political purpose whatever, from anyone on the eligible lists or holding any position in the Classified Service. However, nothing in this section shall prohibit an officer, employee or candidate from communicating through the mail, media or by other means to a significant segment of the public, which may include persons in the Classified Service or on its eligible lists, for such an assessment, subscription or contribution.
No person shall willfully or corruptly make any false statements, certificate, mark, rating or report in regard to an application, test, certification or appointment held or made under the personnel provisions of this Charter or in any manner commit or attempt any fraud preventing the impartial execution of such personnel provisions or rules and regulations made hereunder.
Any person who by himself or with others willfully or corruptly violates any of the provisions of this Article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine and/or imprisonment not to exceed the maximum fine or term of imprisonment, or both, authorized by state law for the punishment of misdemeanor crimes. Any person convicted hereunder shall be ineligible for a period of five years for employment in the City service and shall, if he be an officer or employee of the City, immediately forfeit his office or position.