What is the Personnel Board? The Personnel Board of Jefferson County is a human resources organization established by the legislature of the State of Alabama in 1935 to administer the County's Civil Service System. It is responsible for classifying positions throughout the County, testing potential candidates for employment, establishing hiring registers, developing and administering pay schedules, coordinating the adjudication of grievances, and maintaining employee history records. In a broader sense, it is responsible for executing mandates of the Enabling Act of The State Of Alabama.
What is the purpose of the Personnel Board? The purpose of the Personnel Board is to establish and administer rules and regulations that assure compliance with the Enabling Act of The State Of Alabama and that afford Civil Service employees the protections statutorily provided to them through this Act.
What is the Enabling Act? The Enabling Act refers to Act 248, H. 580 of the Alabama legislature of 1945. The Enabling Act establishes the Personnel Board of Jefferson County and sets forth the regulations under which the Civil Service System operates.
Are all county governments in Alabama subject to the Civil Service System? No. Counties must have at least 400,000 inhabitants as of the last federal census to become subject to the Civil Service regulations of the Enabling Act. As of this writing, there are only two that meet this threshold.
Are employees of all cities within Jefferson County subject to the County Civil Service System? No. Only cities and municipalities that have 5,000 or more inhabitants and whose city limits lie wholly within Jefferson County are required to include their employees in the Civil Service System. An exception to this is that cities and municipalities with 2,500 inhabitants must include their Police Officers in the Civil Service System.
Is inclusion in the Civil Service System optional? No. If the minimum threshold criteria are met, participation is, by state law, mandatory, unless statutorily exempted.
What is the purpose of a Civil Service System? A Civil Service System is designed to assure a degree of job security and equitable treatment to employees of government entities as a means of protecting them from the vagaries of the political environment.
Who runs the Personnel Board? The Personnel Board of Jefferson County operates under the auspices of a three-member panel, also referred to as the 'Board'. This three-member panel is appointed by a Citizens' Supervisory Commission (CSC) which is comprised of 17 civic leaders from throughout the County. The composition of the CSC is defined in the Enabling Act. Each 'Board' member serves a staggered six-year term. A Personnel Director reports directly to this three-member Board and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency.
How many employees are there in the Jefferson County Civil Service System? There are some 9,000 classified employees in the System. These employees work in 17 municipalities and five county-wide jurisdictions, including at the Personnel Board itself.
Are Board of Education employees or public school teachers hired through the Personnel Board of Jefferson County? No
What kind of people work at the Board? The Personnel Board performs many of the functions found in traditional human resource management shops. Employees of the Board are human resource professionals experienced in recruitment, training and development, performance management, compensation, payroll and test construction and validation. Most have Bachelor's and Master's degrees in fields such as human resource management, business administration, computer science, law, and industrial and organizational psychology.
Where can I find the guidelines, policies, and procedures that the Board administers? The Board publishes its Rules and Regulations on this site so that all Jefferson County Merit System employees have access to them. These Rules and Regulations constitute the policies and procedures applicable to all Jefferson County member jurisdictions and are designed to implement and execute the mandates stipulated in the Enabling Act of the State of Alabama .
Who do I call if I have a question about the Rules and Regulations? Call the Personnel Board at 279-3500. Specify your question and you will be transferred to an individual who has expertise in that area of the Rules. You may also contact us by clicking here