Civil service - Encyclopedia Hub

Civil service is a system that includes almost all of a government’s civilian employees who are appointed rather than elected. The term is usually used for a system in which appointments are based on ability and good performance and not on political connections. Civil service systems exist at every level of government in most countries.

Civil service in the United States

In the United States, civil service systems operate at the federal, state, and local levels. For most positions, these systems seek to hire and promote the most qualified person. Hiring and promotion comes without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation (inclination), or political loyalty.

Federal civil service

employment provides jobs throughout the United States and in government offices abroad. A large majority of all federal civilian employees work in agencies of the government’s executive branch. Such agencies include the Department of Defense and the United States Postal Service.

The federal civil service includes hundreds of occupations. For example, skilled artists and engravers design and print government maps, books, and currency. Plant and animal experts help improve the quality and nutritional value of foods. Engineers, scientists, and technicians conduct research on road materials, missiles, ceramics, and aviation safety devices. Air traffic controllers guide aircraft at airports.

Competitive service positions

make up the vast majority of all U.S. civil service jobs. These positions are filled by written or oral examination or by evaluation of an applicant’s education, training, and experience. Some exams include performance tests. The Office of Personnel Management helps the departments and other agencies manage the exams. The office compiles lists of qualified applicants. An agency with a job opening may then choose from among the highest scorers on the appropriate list.

In addition to taking a test, applicants must fill out an application form. For some positions, job seekers must apply directly to the government agency that has an opening. For other positions, they must apply through the Office of Personnel Management.

When compiling lists of qualified applicants, the government gives extra points to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain dependents of veterans. Some people object to the policy of giving extra points to nondisabled veterans. They believe this practice works against women, who are much less likely to be veterans than are men and therefore less likely to get extra points. However, veterans claim that the hiring preference is an earned reward for their previous national service.

Some people have questioned whether civil service examinations always test job-related skills. Also, some people doubt whether the examinations are fair to members of minority groups. The government has tried to give special consideration to women and minorities to remedy past discrimination in hiring. However, some people claim such efforts result in discrimination against whites and men.

Job seekers can get information about federal civil service exams from Federal Job Information Centers throughout the United States. State employment offices, local-government personnel offices, and many public libraries also have such information. In addition, the government advertises civil service exams in newspapers and in other media.

Excepted service positions

are outside the scope of civil service laws because: (1) they have a high level of authority; (2) they require professional training; or (3) the work of the agency involved is specialized or involves access to secret information.

Presidential appointees, assistants to Cabinet members, and other top aides are appointed by the President and may be dismissed by the President at any time. This method of filling positions helps ensure that government leaders agree with the President’s priorities. Such professionals as chaplains and attorneys are also in the excepted service.

Some federal agencies maintain a separate personnel system. These agencies include the Foreign Service, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Government Accountability Office.

Pay.

Career positions in the civil service are organized into grades (levels) and steps to assure similar pay for similar work. Under this arrangement, workers can easily identify opportunities for advancement within and across agencies. At the top of the structure is the Senior Executive Service, a corps of highly trained career managers. Members of the Senior Executive Service have less job security than other civil servants do, and they may be shifted from assignment to assignment as the need arises. However, they also may receive extra pay based on their performance.

Pay levels for civil service jobs correspond to the grades and steps. Extra compensation is sometimes added for uniforms, overtime, travel, and the higher cost of living in some areas of the country. The pay of office workers is reviewed annually. Mechanics and laborers are paid in accord with private-industry wage rates in the region where they work. Some federal workers may engage in collective bargaining. In such bargaining, representatives of management and the workers’ union meet to establish wages and working conditions that are acceptable to both sides. However, the bargaining rights of federal workers are more restricted than those of nongovernment workers, and federal workers may not strike. Despite these restrictions, job security and generous health insurance, vacation, pension, and other benefits have traditionally attracted people to civil service work.

Limits on civil servants.

In addition to limits on their rights to act through unions, federal employees must accept other restrictions that do not apply to other workers. For example, to avoid conflicts of interest, some civil service employees must disclose their sources of income. Former holders of excepted service jobs may not do business with government agencies for a certain period after they leave their job. Most federal civil service workers can take an active role in political campaigns, political parties, or other groups while off-duty. But they may not run for elected office. More severe limitations are placed on employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal workers whose jobs U.S. law considers “sensitive.”

Management of the civil service system

is divided between the Office of Personnel Management and the independent Merit Systems Protection Board. The Office of Personnel Management sets standards, administers civil service examinations, and recruits and trains government workers. The Merit Systems Protection Board guards against violations of the merit system. A special lawyer not attached to the board can prosecute individuals in the civil service system who violate the system’s requirements. The independent Federal Labor Relations Authority oversees relations between the federal government and the unions of civil service employees.

State and local civil service.

Almost all state and local governments have civil service systems that resemble the national system. Most systems effectively fill government jobs on the basis of merit rather than political connections. In some states and cities, however, politicians use “provisional appointments” and other techniques to award public jobs to their supporters.

Most employees of state and local governments belong to a union. Unions of such employees may have great political influence through their financial contributions, their volunteer work in campaigns, and their voting power. As a result, the union members often determine who their elected “boss”–the governor or mayor–will be. In most areas, strikes by public employees at the state and local levels are illegal. A majority of labor disputes involving civil servants are settled through arbitration–that is, the dispute is settled by a neutral third party whose decision is binding.

History.

The earliest Presidents generally sought qualified individuals for jobs, though they tended to favor their own political supporters. By the mid-1820’s, government jobs were commonly used as political rewards. An incoming President would dismiss a large number of government workers originally hired by the opposition party and replace them with members of his own party. This practice was done to enhance the President’s control of the bureaucracy. It was based on the ideas that government work was not complicated and that all people in a democracy should be eligible for it. This practice also reflected the idea that “to the victor belong the spoils.” It led to much corruption and was called the spoils system (see Spoils system ).

Many people hired through the spoils system had little or no training for their work and no interest in it. Many were dishonest. As government activities grew, a serious need for qualified workers developed. The government passed laws in 1853 and 1855 requiring examinations for clerks to make sure that new employees would be qualified to do the work. In 1871, Congress gave the President authority to establish tests for people seeking government jobs. But this merit system ended in 1875 because Congress failed to fund the system.

Reform leaders continued to press for a more thorough merit system in the federal, state, and local governments. In 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker, shot and killed President James A. Garfield. Garfield’s death brought public demands for civil service reforms and led to a bill introduced by Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio. The bill became the Civil Service Act of 1883. About the same time, New York and Massachusetts began merit programs.

The Civil Service Act called for examinations open to all citizens. It provided for selection of new workers from among those making the highest grades on these examinations. The law banned the firing or demoting of workers for political reasons. The Civil Service Act also relieved government workers from any obligation to give political service or payments. The act established the United States Civil Service Commission to enforce the law.

At first, the Civil Service Act covered only about 10 percent of the federal positions. By 1940, 90 percent of all federal jobs were covered. Additional laws sought to make civil service a true career service. They authorized advancement based on merit and granted benefits similar to those offered by progressive private employers. For example, the Retirement Act of 1920 set up a pension system for civil service workers. The Classification Act of 1923 provided that all executive department jobs in Washington, D.C., be analyzed and classified so that workers would be paid according to the requirements of their jobs. A law passed in 1940 extended the provisions of the Classification Act to many federal positions outside Washington, D.C. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 replaced the Civil Service Commission with the Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Civil service in other lands

The idea of a civil service based on merit has long been practiced in China. Modern civil service systems began to develop in Europe more than 200 years ago. Developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America have also begun to operate modern civil service programs.

Germany has one of the oldest civil service systems in Western Europe. It dates from the Prussian system of the late 1700’s. In France, the merit system occupies a strong position. Each local government unit must have its own merit system or accept the system developed for local administration by the national government. The British Civil Service Department operates the British system.

Canada set up its first examination system for government employees through the Civil Service Act of 1908. A law passed in 1918 extended the coverage of the Civil Service Act to most national government jobs. Canada’s Treasury Board is responsible for the personnel policy of the national government. The independent Public Service Commission of Canada, accountable directly to Parliament, administers the national civil service system in accord with merit principles.