70 ILCS 1505/16a

(70 ILCS 1505/16a) (from Ch. 105, par. 333.16a)

Sec. 16a. Personnel code.

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Park System Civil Service Act or the provisions of any other law, the board of commissioners by ordinance may establish a personnel code for the Chicago Park District creating a system of personnel administration based on merit principles and scientific methods.

(b) The passage by the board of commissioners of a personnel code that complies with the provisions of this Section shall suspend the applicability to the Chicago Park District of the Park System Civil Service Act. That Act shall again become applicable to the Chicago Park District immediately upon the repeal by the board of commissioners of the personnel code or of any provision of that Code that is required by this Section.

(c) Any personnel code passed by the board of commissioners under the authority of this Section shall contain provisions necessary to create a personnel system based on merit principles and scientific methods and shall at a minimum contain the following provisions:

(1) The code shall create the office of Director of Human Resources. The Director of Human Resources shall be a resident of the district and shall be appointed by the board of commissioners.

(2) The code shall provide for a personnel board consisting of 3 members. Two members shall be commissioners and the third shall be the Director of Human Resources or the person lawfully acting in that capacity. Terms for members shall be prescribed by the personnel code. The commissioner members of the personnel board shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for necessary travel and other expenses. The personnel board may administer oaths, subpoena witnesses, and compel the production of books and papers pertinent to any hearing authorized by this Section. Any circuit court, upon application by the personnel board or any member of the board, may, in its discretion, compel the attendance of witnesses, the production of books and papers, and the giving of testimony before the board or its hearing officer in relation to a hearing. Any person who shall refuse to comply with a lawfully served order to appear or testify before the personnel board or its hearing officer, or to produce books and papers relevant to the hearing as commanded in a lawfully served subpoena, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Any person who, having taken an oath or made affirmation before the board or its hearing officer, knowingly swears or affirms falsely is guilty of perjury and upon conviction shall be punished accordingly.

(3) The code shall subject all positions of employment in the Park District to the jurisdiction of the personnel board, with the exception of offices or high-ranking senior executive positions, confidential positions, or special program positions that cannot be subject to career service due to program requirements. The board of commissioners shall, by resolution, specifically exempt those offices or positions from the jurisdiction of the personnel board.

(4) The substantive provisions of the code shall provide, at a minimum, for the following:

(A) With the exceptions listed below, all vacancies in positions of employment subject to the jurisdiction of the personnel board shall be filled only after providing reasonable public notice of the vacancy and inviting those who meet the published minimum requirements for the position as further provided in this Section to apply for it. The district shall specify in the announcement of the vacancy the minimum requirements necessary to be considered for the position, as contained in the official position description for the position. The district shall specify in the announcement of the vacancy whether competition for the vacancy is open to non-employees of the district, or to employees of the district, or to both. The district may dispense with this requirement of public announcement when a vacancy, for reasons promoting the efficiency of the district service, is to be filled by demotion, recall from layoff or leave of absence, or lateral transfer of an employee; or as the result of a lawful order of a court, arbitrator, or administrative agency; or as the result of a bona fide settlement of a legal claim; or in accordance with the provisions of this Section governing emergency appointments; or as a result of a reclassification of an employee's job title made in accordance with rules prescribed by the district for correcting misclassifications; or as the result of a need to correct or avoid violations of any ethics ordinance of the district.

(B) All vacancies that have been publicly announced in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (4) shall thereafter be filled by a competitive evaluation of the relative qualifications of those who apply for it. Any method of evaluation shall be reasonably designed to select candidates on the basis of job-related criteria. The personnel board shall prescribe by rule the various methods of evaluation that may be used. The public announcement of the vacancy shall specify the method that will be used for the particular vacancy. The Director of Human Resources shall document the process of conducting each competitive evaluation for each vacancy in sufficient detail that the personnel board may determine the process by which, and the basis on which, the person selected to fill the vacancy was selected.

(C) The district, where it determines that it is in the interest of the efficiency of the service, may specify reasonable lines of promotion or "career ladder" progressions grouping related positions. The district may, in its discretion, restrict competition for a particular vacancy (i) to existing employees who seek promotion to that vacancy from the position class at the next lower step in the relevant line of promotion or career ladder progression or (ii) if there is no such lower step, to existing employees seeking promotion from a particular job classification or classifications whose duties are reasonably related to the duties of the vacancy being filled. No restriction of competition for a vacancy to be filled by promotion shall be applied unless the line of promotion or similar restriction has first been approved by the personnel board.

(D) Persons appointed to a position of permanent employment shall acquire "career service" status following successful completion of a 6-month period of probation.

(E) The district may prescribe reasonable rules that extend appropriate preference in filling vacancies to qualified persons who have been members of the armed forces of the United States in time of hostilities with a foreign country or to qualified persons who, while citizens of the United States, were members of the armed forces of allies of the United States in time of hostilities with a foreign country. A "time of hostilities with a foreign country" means the period of time from December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1945, and from June 27, 1950, to December 31, 1976 and during any other period prescribed by the Board of Commissioners to take account of periods in which the armed forces were subjected to the risks of hostilities with a foreign country. To qualify for this preference, a person must have served in the armed forces for at least 6 months, been discharged on the ground of hardship, or been released from active duty because of a service-connected disability; the person must not have received a dishonorable discharge.

(F) The district may make emergency appointments without public announcement or competition where immediate appointment is required for reasons of the security or safety of the public or of the district's property. Emergency appointments shall be immediately reported to the personnel board, which may disapprove them and order them ended. No emergency appointment may last more than 30 days, and no emergency appointment shall be renewed.

(G) The district may make temporary appointments to positions in which it is determined by the personnel board that the continuous services of the employee will be needed for less than 12 months. Appointments shall be made by public announcement and competitive methods as provided in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (4), but the employee thus appointed shall not acquire career service status during the period of his or her temporary appointment.

(H) The district may transfer employees without competitive procedures from a position to a similar position involving similar qualifications, duties, responsibilities, and salary ranges.

(I) The district may make layoffs by reason of lack of funds or work, abolition of a position, or material change in duties or organization. The personnel code may provide for reemployment of employees so laid off, giving consideration in both layoffs and reemployment to performance record, seniority in service, and impact on achieving equal employment opportunity goals.

(J) Any employee with career service status shall be discharged or suspended without pay for more than 30 days only for cause and only upon written charges for the discharge or suspension. The employee shall have an opportunity to appeal the action to the personnel board and to receive a hearing before the personnel board or a hearing officer appointed by it. The district may suspend, without pay, the charged employee pending a hearing and determination of an appeal by the personnel board. All final administrative decisions by the personnel board discharging or suspending, for more than 30 days, an employee with career service status are subject to judicial review under the Administrative Review Law.

(K) The district shall extend, to persons who are working in a position in which they lawfully acquired civil service status by virtue of being examined under the Park System Civil Service Act, career service status in that position without further examination.

(L) In filling any position subject to the jurisdiction of the personnel board and not exempted under paragraph (3) of subsection (c), the district shall take no account, whether favorably or unfavorably, of any candidate's political affiliation, political preferences or views, or service to any political party or organization. The district shall maintain procedures through which employees may complain of violations of this prohibition and through which any established violation may be corrected.

(M) The district shall provide, by rule of the personnel board, by collective bargaining agreements with the appropriate collective bargaining representatives, or both, for continued recognition of any right acquired on or before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991 by an employee of the district to be employed or reemployed, as the result of a layoff or a recall, in a position in which the employee previously held civil service status. Those previously acquired rights may be modified by mutual agreement between the district and the appropriate collective bargaining representative.

(N) The code shall provide that in filling vacancies, the district will follow the provisions of any lawful affirmative action plan approved by the board of commissioners.

(O) The code shall set forth specific standards of employee performance that all district employees shall be required to follow.

(5) The code shall provide for the preparation, maintenance, and revision by the personnel board of a position classification plan for all positions of employment within the district, based on similarity of duties performed, responsibilities assigned, and conditions of employment, so that the same schedule of pay may be equitably applied to all positions in the same class. Every class of positions shall have a position description approved by the personnel board, specifying the duties expected of the occupant of the position, the minimum requirements of education, training, or experience required for the position, and any other information the personnel board by rule may prescribe for inclusion in the position descriptions. No position shall be filled, and no salary or other remuneration paid to an occupant of a position, until the position has been incorporated by the personnel board into the position classification plan.

(6) The code shall provide for the preparation, maintenance, and revision of a pay plan. The pay plan shall be approved, and all revisions to it shall be approved, by the board of commissioners. The pay plan shall assign rates of pay to each position within the approved position classification plan of the district. No salary for any position of employment in the district shall be paid unless and until that position has been lawfully included in the pay plan. Nothing in this Section shall relieve the district from the obligation to bargain over rates of pay under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act or any other statute that regulates the labor relations of the district.

(7) The code shall provide that no disbursing or auditing officer of the district shall make or approve any payment for personal service to any person holding a position in the service of the district unless the payroll voucher or account of the payment bears the certification of the Director of Human Resources that each person named therein has been appointed and employed in accordance with the provisions of the personnel code and the provisions of this Section. The certification shall be based either upon verification of the individual items in each payroll period or upon procedures developed for avoiding unnecessary repetitive verification when other evidence of compliance with applicable laws and rules is available. The procedures may be based either upon a continuation of payroll preparation by individual departments or upon the use of a central payroll preparation unit. The Director of Human Resources shall furnish the personnel board with a copy of each payroll as certified.

(Source: P.A. 91-918, eff. 7-7-00.)