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State Civil Service

The state civil service consists of the classified and unclassified service.  The traditional civil service hiring and discharge procedures apply only to the classified service.

The state civil service laws are designed to ensure merit-based hiring for most state government positions. Technically, the state civil service covers all positions in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. However, when people speak of the "civil service" they generally are referring to the classified civil service.

There is a statutory presumption that executive branch state employees are in the classified civil service. The law provides that employees in the legislative and judicial branches are in the unclassified civil service. The law also specifies various types of executive branch employees who are in the unclassified service. These include agency commissioners, and deputy and assistant commissioners. Minn. Stat., sec 43A.08.

The primary differences between the classified and unclassified service are in hiring and firing. Classified employees are hired through a competitive examination process, and can be dismissed only for just cause. Minn. Stat., sec. 43A.33.

October 2008