19-1835. Civil service; vacancies; procedure.

(1) Whenever a position subject to the Civil Service Act becomes vacant, the appointing authority shall make requisition upon the commission for the names and addresses of the persons eligible for appointment and may decline to fill such vacancy for an indefinite period.

(2) The commission, upon request of the appointing authority, shall establish and maintain a list, for a period of time established by the appointing authority, of those eligible for appointment to or promotion within the department. Such list shall be established and maintained through the open competitive examinations required by section 19-1829, with the time and date of any examination to be established by the appointing authority. Any person having satisfactorily passed the examination for any position shall be placed on the list of those eligible for appointment or promotion to such position.

(3) Upon the request of the appointing authority, the commission shall certify the names of the persons who are the three highest on the eligible list, following the most recent examination, and whose qualifications have been validated by the commission for the vacant position. If fewer than three names are on the eligible list the commission shall certify those that do appear. If the commission certifies fewer than three names for each vacancy to the appointing authority, the appointing authority may appoint one of such persons to fill the vacancy, may decline to fill the vacancy, or may order that another examination be held by the civil service commission.

(4) If a vacancy occurs and there is no eligible list for the position or if the commission has not certified persons from the eligible list, a temporary appointment may be made by the appointing authority. Such temporary appointment shall not continue for a period longer than four months. No person shall receive more than one temporary appointment or serve more than four months as a temporary appointee in any one fiscal year.

(5) To enable the appointing authority to exercise a choice in the filling of positions, no appointment, employment, or promotion in any position in the service shall be deemed complete until after the expiration of a period of three to six months' probationary service for firefighters and not less than six months nor more than one year after certification by the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center for police officers, as may be provided in the rules of the civil service commission, during which time the appointing authority may terminate the employment of the person appointed by it if, during the performance test thus afforded and upon an observation or consideration of the performance of duty, the appointing authority deems such person unfit or unsatisfactory for service in the department. The appointing authority may appoint one of the other persons certified by the commission and such person shall likewise enter upon such duties until some person is found who is fit for appointment, employment, or promotion for the probationary period provided and then the appointment, employment, or promotion shall be complete.

Source

Annotations

Civil service commission acted within bounds of its discretion in giving original entrance rather than promotion examination in selecting candidates for fire chief. Short v. Kissinger, 184 Neb. 491, 168 N.W.2d 917 (1969).