Massachusetts Statutes

Section 54. If five per cent or five thousand of the registered voters in a city file with the city clerk a petition requesting that the question of accepting the applicability of the civil service law and rules to either or both of the offices specified in clause (2) of section …

Section 55. Each person who signs a petition for the placing of a question on the official ballot at a regular municipal election pursuant to the provisions of section fifty-four shall state thereon his name and his place of residence on January first preceding, giving the street…

Section 56. Whenever any office or position exempt from the civil service law and rules is made subject thereto, whether by the provisions of this chapter or by any other statute, or by rule, or by acceptance by a city or town of the provisions of this chapter or of any other sta…

Section 57. Every year-round temporary position in the labor service of a city where such service is subject to the civil service law and rules shall be deemed to be a permanent position if compensation for service in such temporary position has been paid for a continuous period …

Section 58. No person shall be ineligible for appointment and no person shall be denied employment as a firefighter or as a police officer in a city or town because of failure to attain a minimum height unless the administrator, in response to the written request of the appointin…

Section 58A. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, in any city, town or district that accepts this section, no person shall be eligible to have his name certified for original appointment to the position of firefighter or police officer if …

Section 59. Original and promotional appointments in police and fire forces of cities and of such towns where such forces are within the official service, including appointments to the position of chief or similar position where the civil service law and rules are applicable to s…

Section 59A. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the administrator may authorize an appointing authority to create its own registers of entry-level municipal police and firefighter candidates after the appointing authority has entered into a written ag…

Section 59B. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the administrator may authorize an appointing authority to establish an entry-level police cadet program leading to civil service tenure. The cadet program shall be established by the appointing authorit…

Section 59C. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any person who has completed not less than 24 months of service as a fire cadet may, subject to a program established by the head of the fire department as defined in section 1 of chapter 148, on behalf …

Section 59D. The percentage of candidates appointed to a permanent position from a local public safety service register or a cadet program, pursuant to sections 59A to 59C, inclusive, shall not exceed, in the aggregate, more than 50 per cent of the appointing authority's overall …

Section 6. Each appointment to a civil service position shall be made by an original appointment pursuant to the provisions of this section or by a promotional appointment pursuant to the provisions of section seven, except as otherwise provided by this chapter or other law. Each…

Section 60. In any city or town having an intermittent or reserve police or fire force to which the civil service law and rules are applicable, original appointments to the lowest title in the regular police or fire force shall be made from among the permanent members of such int…

Section 60A. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 60 to the contrary, this section shall apply to a city or town that has an intermittent or reserve police or fire force and that accepts this section by majority vote of the select board of a town or of the city council o…

Section 61. Following his original appointment as a permanent full-time police officer or fire fighter in a city, or in a town where the civil service law and rules are applicable to such position, a person shall actually perform the duties of such position on a full-time basis f…

Section 61A. The administrator, with the secretary of public safety and the commissioner of public health shall establish initial health and physical fitness standards which shall be applicable to all police officers and firefighters when they are appointed to permanent, temporar…

Section 61B. Any city, town, district or other governmental unit which accepts the provisions of this section shall establish a wellness program for police officers and firefighters, if any, employed in such city, town, district or other governmental unit. Such wellness program s…

Section 62. Punishment duty shall not be imposed without just cause upon any police officer or fire fighter subject to this chapter. A police officer or fire fighter upon whom punishment duty is imposed shall, within twenty-four hours of the imposition of such punishment duty, be…

Section 62A. Notwithstanding the provisions of section sixty-two punishment duty shall not be imposed upon any police officer or firefighter, who is employed by a city or town subject to the provisions of this chapter, unless such police officer or firefighter assents thereto. Th…

Section 63. An appointing authority may employ a paraplegic in a civil service position within the police or fire department of any city or town, without submitting a requisition, if, in its opinion, the duties of the position may be performed by such paraplegic. Prior to such em…

Section 64. No person shall be ineligible for appointment and no person shall be denied employment as a police officer in the Massachusetts bay transportation authority police force because of failure to attain a minimum height unless the administrator, in response to the written…

Section 65. Original and promotional appointments in the Massachusetts bay transportation authority police force shall be made only after competitive examination. An examination for a promotional appointment for any title in any such force shall be open only to permanent employee…

Section 66. The administrator shall certify persons to fill positions in the labor service of the highway division in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation according to districts established by the division. Districts so established shall not be changed unless written no…

Section 67. Each appointing authority shall submit to the administrator, on or before March first of each year, a list of civil service employees in its department as of January second of the same year. Such list shall be in such form as is required by the administrator, shall be…

Section 68. Each appointing authority shall report in writing forthwith to the administrator of any appointment or employment, promotion, demotion, transfer, change in duties or pay, reinstatement, change in name, discharge, suspension, lay-off, abolition of position, absence for…

Section 69. Every appointing authority shall file, within seven days after the receipt of a written request from the administrator, a report containing the names of all persons who have been appointed or employed by such authority, and have received pay or rendered bills for serv…

Section 6A. The administrator shall establish a program for the implementation of a performance evaluation system for all civil service employees. In the development of the performance evaluation system for municipal civil service employees the administrator shall, in conjunction…

Section 6B. The weight given to performance evaluation in promotional decisions for civil service positions shall be determined by the administrator in conjunction with representatives of collective bargaining units containing the titles to be tested. Following such determination…

Section 6C. A civil service employee, except an employee serving during his probationary period, who receives an evaluation with which he disagrees, shall within ten days unless otherwise specified in the collective bargaining agreement, select an option of appealing the results …

Section 6D. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the administrator may approve the original appointments of a municipal appointing authority sanctioned by sections 59A, 59B or 59C; provided, that the administrator's role in facilitating such alternative ori…

Section 7. Each promotional appointment within the official service shall be made pursuant to section eight or after certification from an eligible list established as a result of one of the following types of examinations: (a) a departmental promotional examination pursuant to s…

Section 70. The commission and the administrator shall maintain on file a record of their proceedings. Such records shall be open to public inspection pursuant to the rules of the commission. An appointing authority may inspect applications and references in connection with a cer…

Section 71. The administrator shall prepare and maintain in his office rosters of all civil service positions in the service of the commonwealth and in the cities and towns, and of all persons who are legally employed, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis, in such position…

Section 72. The commission or the administrator may investigate all or part of the official and labor services, the work, duties and compensation of the persons employed in such services, the number of persons employed in such services and the titles, ratings and methods of promo…

Section 73. If, in the opinion of the commission or the administrator, a person is appointed or employed in a civil service position in violation of the civil service law and rules, the commission or the administrator shall mail a written notice of such violation to such person a…

Section 74. No person shall wilfully or corruptly alter any examination paper of any applicant, or wilfully or corruptly substitute any other paper for such examination paper, for the purpose of either improving or injuring the prospects or chances for appointment, employment or …

Section 75. No person shall deny or interfere with the right of civil service employees employed by any city or town to petition, individually or collectively, the city or town government or any member thereof, to furnish information to the mayor, city or town manager, city counc…

Section 76. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary no individual, other than in an emergency as heretofore set forth in this section, shall be appointed, transferred, excepting a transfer to a position with substantially identical authority, duties and responsibilit…

Section 77. The commission or the administrator may take any necessary and appropriate action to enforce the civil service law and rules.

Section 78. (a) There shall be a permanent commission on recruitment, hiring and retention of municipal police officers and firefighters in the commonwealth to consist of 1 member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, who shall serve as co-chair, 1 member appo…

Section 79. Following their original appointment and oath as a permanent full-time environmental police officer in the police force of the office of law enforcement established by section 10A of chapter 21A, a person shall perform the duties of such position on a full-time basis …

Section 8. An appointing authority, with the approval of the administrator, may promote an employee in the official service from one title to the next higher title in the same series in the same departmental unit, subject to the following requirements: (a) such employee shall hav…

Section 9. Pursuant to the provisions of this section, an appointing authority may make a promotional appointment within a departmental unit on the basis of a departmental promotional examination. Such departmental promotional examination shall be open, until there are at least t…

Section 1. Any city or town subject to civil service law as provided in chapter thirty-one, or by special law, may exercise the option of establishing a decentralized personnel system and may become exempt from the provisions of chapter thirty-one or special law, provided that su…

Section 10. Nothing in this chapter shall interfere with the right of certified employee organizations to bargain with the municipality over subjects permitted by chapter one hundred and fifty E; provided, however, that the authority of any municipal agency or its agents to deter…

Section 11. Revocation of the acceptance of this chapter by a city or town shall be in the same manner as its acceptance. Upon revocation, said city or town shall be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one of the General Laws to the same extent as it was immediately prior…