Flouting Civil Service

To the Editor:

The Chief is a strong advocate of the civil service merit system. That system was put in place over the years to counter the "spoils system" which caused widespread unjustified firings when new public officials were elected and they wanted to reward their supporters with public jobs.

There is always an uneasy truce between elected officials and the civil service system. Year in and year out we saw this tension in the appointment of the Chief of Department at the Fire Department. In spite of the contortions allowed within the law, it is assumed that all parties play by the rules.

But sometimes the rules are totally ignored. High-level appointments are usually made to Exempt Class positions which have no formal requirements. Some positions, however, are classified as non-competitive because the position requires certain experience and skills.

The position of Executive Director of the NYC Employees' Retirement System is one of those positions. There are specific minimum qualifications for the position. Unfortunately, the current incumbent fails almost completely to meet these qualifications. This may have happened due to incompetence by the hiring staff at the Department of Finance, but when it was pointed out to DCAS and the City Civil Service Commission, they both refused to do anything about it. So it is reasonable to assume that this appointment was knowingly made in violation of civil service law.

This potential civil service violation makes personnel management untenable at NYCERS. Every hiring, every firing, every raise and promotion is suspect. It is easy to see how senior managers would be fearful to say anything about this conflict. I hope someone resolves this problem, but I am not optimistic.

JOHN J. MURPHY

Editor's note: Mr. Murphy is a former Executive Director of NYCERS