Worcester's Civil Service Exit Still Under Review After 15 Months

WORCESTER, MA — After more than a year, a recommendation to either leave or change how Worcester uses the civil service exam to hire police and firefighters is still pending before the Worcester Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee (DIAC).

In August 2020, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. asked the DIAC to study the civil service process and recommend possible changes. A handful of nearby police departments have exited civil service in a bid to take control of hiring and diversify the pool of public safety employees.

The DIAC most recently met on Nov. 8 with the civil service recommendation on the agenda. The committee has two vacant seats, however, and was unable to gather enough members to hold the meeting that night.

(Augustus' office appoints members to the DIAC, but a spokesperson did not know if there were any applications for the two open seats. Residents can apply for volunteer boards and commissioners here.)

The committee has made a preliminary recommendation that Worcester leave the civil service system. Chair Leigh Woodruff said DIAC is waiting to make a formal recommendation because she and other members want more public input. The committee has also put together a memorandum outlining problems with civil service.

"We want people to voice their opinions on the issue at upcoming committee meetings," Woodruff said.

Outside the DIAC, the idea of a civil service change does have some broader support.

"I support civil service, but I also believe that it would be beneficial to make some modifications," Chief Steven Sargent said through a spokesperson when asked his opinion of the system.

The committee has already formally recommended Worcester exit civil service for non-public safety employees. A few hundred Worcester public works, parks and inspection services employees are subject to civil service, but the state has not administered exams for non-public safety employees in decades. Those employees do not receive civil service protections and are considered "provisional" workers, according to the city human resources department.

What is civil service?

Every two years, the state offers a multiple-choice civil service exam to people who want to work as either police or firefighters, among other public safety roles. The state uses those test results to rank candidates. Veterans and children of people who either died or became disabled while working in public safety go to the top of the list.

"When hiring for a vacant position, a city/town must justify any decision to hire anyone other than the list’s top three candidates — even if a lower-listed candidate is more qualified. Plus, a job candidate who is bypassed on the list may appeal to the Civil Service Commission, which can take years to render a decision," the DIAC wrote in a memo about the process.

It can take a year or longer for the city to pick candidates from the civil service list, according to the memo. Apart from the lengthy process, the DIAC found that civil service may prevent qualified women and non-white people from getting public safety jobs.

"According to the Pioneer Institute’s 2004 study, the Massachusetts system of preferences has 'supplanted' merit as the defining criterion in civil service hiring," the memo said. "'[F]or new hires, the test score has little or no bearing on where his or her name will appear on the hiring list. On a [then] recent civil service exam for the Boston police, 492 applicants scored 95 or above. [But] only one of these 492 top scorers landed in the first 75 positions on the hiring list.'"

As of this week, the No. 1 police candidate was the son an officer who died while serving (called a 402A), and the next 22 candidates are either veterans or disabled veterans. The top two firefighter candidates were 402A, and 26 of the next 27 candidates are either veterans or disabled veterans.

Nearby, Framingham, Marlborough, Grafton and Webster have all left civil service. Department leaders have hailed the move as a win for local control.

"This change allows the Framingham Police Department to expand our ability to recruit, attract a larger pool of candidates, with the goal of creating a workforce that is reflective of the community we serve, while preserving a commitment to veterans, and establishing a cadet program in the future," Framingham Chief Lester Baker said in a December 2020 statement.