# Civil Service Bypass



## jmaz (Sep 18, 2003)

Does anyone on the board have experience with bypassing a candidate on the civil service list? The city I am in the running with might try to bypass me and another individual for some other guys under us. The reason has to do with two of them have criminal justice degrees (AS &amp; BS). Also two other that they might hire do not have degrees. I also have a few speeding tickets but nothing within 2½ years. The police department said that they would use the few speeding tickets and the lack of the criminal justice degree as the negatives to bypass me and to hire the other individuals. Will those reasons uphold with the Civil Service Commission or not?


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## mpd61 (Aug 7, 2002)

You don't want to hear this.....................................

Slow down and go to school. 
:lol: 
Seriously, 
Let them by-pass you. Any adversarial challenge will paint you as, well, adversarial!!
Bottom line is they don't want you. They want these other folks, enough to brush you aside. And with Civil-Service, they will get their way.
 
Try to get to know some people on the department and make a positive impression. You need to try to find out if these other candidates had any political juice or other factors that would benefit you. Gather some intelligence and see what you come up with.


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## Gil (Jun 15, 1998)

I didn't think the department had to show civil service why they did not hire you but why they hired the other candidates that were below you on the list.


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## 7MPOC (Mar 16, 2004)

Degrees really dont mean much with civil service as far as bypass criteria mainly because they are considered entry level jobs. As far as the Speeding Tickets go Ive seen my department burn through the first 12 people including 4 vets because of motor vehicle violations, Im also am highly sure they wanted to the number 13 and 15 guys because they were specials with the town and 1 of them had the full time academy. It happens. As far as an appeal not to discourage you but appeals can have some pretty big reprocutions as far as ever getting on with the dept. especially if one of the people they selected over you is a relative of someone on the pd or someone the town really wants. Its tough to say because ive never been in the situation but I am judging on what Ive seen. As far as the motor vehicle violations civil service has no problem with accepting them as reasons, actually its not civil service its the personell administror of human resources that recieves a form saying we are discarding applicants x, y, and z because of this....... And then states we are appointing a, b, and c instead. Even though you still can appeal I really dont see how it can help because MGL 31 states just because a candidate appears on the list does not mean said candidate has a vested right to the position. Which kind of defeats the purpose of 2n+1 becuase even though the town gets a list of who it can hire 99% of the time they fly through the list to get who they want because at the end of the day these are the people they will be working with for 30+ years. Like MPD said do your homework and see about getting an "in" with the department or find out who the people are they are going after before making an appeal. Just my thoughts, like I said Ive never been in the situation but Ive seen and heard the war stories through Dept.


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## 82PSTSB (Apr 6, 2004)

The Towns do have to let Civil Service know why they did not choose someone. There has to ba valid reason for bypassing someone. The first time i Interviewed with a town, they wrote to civil service and said they didn't choose me because of something in my background(which I have yet to figure out what it was). But the real reason was that they wanted the dispatcher that was behind me, and they took him and he ended up starting the academy, then leaving to go to the state police academy. The next time I interviewed, they told me I interviewed well and my background was great??? guess there was nothing in my background the first time, only the dispatcher on the list behind me.


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## jmaz (Sep 18, 2003)

I just found out that they are going to try to by-pass me for this round. The thing is the Mayor is the only one that is trying to by-pass me. The police department has no problem hiring me. I know the chief and the captain pretty good along with alot of other individuals on the force, they know that I am a smart and qualified individual. The mayor stated that he feels I am too young and in a couple years I will be a good candidate. This sucks because in a couple years the list will be expired and a whole group of vet's will be back from the war. I think this is a good situation for using the 1 year probationary period. If in a year I don't live up to what the Mayor is looking for then get rid of me. But that is just my thought. They are going to try to by-pass me using the couple violations and that I failed (2) college courses the whole time I was there. That is the only negative things they could put down because the rest of my background is great. I am going back to school in the fall and trying to get my degree (I only need (9) courses) so next interview maybe that would look better. Plus I am calling the Captain that runs the auxiliary Police force in the city and seeing if I could Volunteer for that. I think this will also show more interest and drive for the job.

Thanks for the responses and advice so far.


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## MVS (Jul 2, 2003)

jmaz,

If thats the case, APPEAL it! If you appeal it, they'll still hire someone else while your appeal is "pending". But if you have a case and the appeal rules in your favor, the PD may be required to hire you for the next opening. It's better than nothing...


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## Irishpride (May 5, 2002)

Jmazz,
You have up to ten days from when you are notified in writing that you have been bypassed to file an appeal (it can take up to 6 months to be notified in writing). What I'm trying to say is that filing an bypass appeal is something you want to think long and hard about. My advise is call around to a few good CS lawyers and start saving $$ for a retainer. When you get the actual notice of bypass sit down with the Attorney you've selected and he'll have a pretty good idea whether or not your case stands a shot against an appeal. Try to relax some and realize that whatever they've decided to do with this hiring will not even see a pre-hearing conference for at least a year (or 2 depending on backlog), be patient and think about long term ramifications (both pros and cons). If the only problem the mayor has with you is your age or lack of education both will change over time, but if you persue an appeal the mayor may look at it as some young kid second guessing his/her judgement, that could follow you around a lot longer.


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