Public Act 93-0411
HB0988 Enrolled LRB093 05742 RCE 05835 b
AN ACT in relation to public bodies.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Fire Department Promotion Act.
Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
"Affected department" or "department" means a full-time
municipal fire department that is subject to a collective
bargaining agreement or the fire department operated by a
full-time fire protection district. The terms do not include
fire departments operated by the State, a university, or a
municipality with a population over 1,000,000 or any unit of
local government other than a municipality or fire protection
district. The terms also do not include a combined department
that was providing both police and firefighting services on
January 1, 2002.
"Appointing authority" means the Board of Fire and Police
Commissioners, Board of Fire Commissioners, Civil Service
Commissioners, Superintendent or Department Head, Fire
Protection District Board of Trustees, or other entity having
the authority to administer and grant promotions in an
affected department.
"Promotion" means any appointment or advancement to a
rank within the affected department (1) for which an
examination was required before January 1, 2002; (2) that is
included within a bargaining unit; or (3) that is the next
rank immediately above the highest rank included within a
bargaining unit, provided such rank is not the only rank
between the Fire Chief and the highest rank included within
the bargaining unit, or is a rank otherwise excepted under
item (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), or (v) of this definition.
"Promotion" does not include appointments (i) that are for
fewer than 180 days; (ii) to the positions of Superintendent,
Chief, or other chief executive officer; (iii) to an
exclusively administrative or executive rank for which an
examination is not required; (iv) to a rank that was exempted
by a home rule municipality prior to January 1, 2002,
provided that after the effective date of this Act no home
rule municipality may exempt any future or existing ranks
from the provisions of this Act; or (v) to an administrative
rank immediately below the Superintendent, Chief, or other
chief executive officer of an affected department, provided
such rank shall not be held by more than 2 persons and there
is a promoted rank immediately below it. Notwithstanding the
exceptions to the definition of "promotion" set forth in
items (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) of this definition,
promotions shall include any appointments to ranks covered by
the terms of a collective bargaining agreement in effect on
the effective date of this Act.
"Preliminary promotion list" means the rank order of
eligible candidates established in accordance with subsection
(b) of Section 20 prior to applicable veteran's preference
points. A person on the preliminary promotion list who is
eligible for veteran's preference under the laws and
agreements applicable to the appointing authority may file a
written application for that preference within 10 days after
the initial posting of the preliminary promotion list. The
preference shall be calculated in accordance with Section 55
and applied as an addition to the person's total point score
on the examination. The appointing authority shall make
adjustments to the preliminary promotion list based on any
veteran's preference claimed and the final adjusted promotion
list shall then be posted by the appointing authority.
"Rank" means any position within the chain of command of
a fire department to which employees are regularly assigned
to perform duties related to providing fire suppression, fire
prevention, or emergency services.
"Final adjusted promotion list" means the promotion list
for the position that is in effect on the date the position
is created or the vacancy occurs. If there is no final
adjusted promotion list in effect for that position on that
date, or if all persons on the current final adjusted
promotion list for that position refuse the promotion, the
affected department shall not make a permanent promotion
until a new final adjusted promotion list has been prepared
in accordance with this Act, but may make a temporary
appointment to fill the vacancy. Temporary appointments shall
not exceed 180 days.
Each component of the promotional test shall be scored on
a scale of 100 points. The component scores shall then be
reduced by the weighting factor assigned to the component on
the test and the scores of all components shall be added to
produce a total score based on a scale of 100 points.
Section 10. Applicability.
(a) This Act shall apply to all positions in an affected
department, except those specifically excluded in items (i),
(ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) of the definition of "promotion"
in Section 5 unless such positions are covered by a
collective bargaining agreement in force on the effective
date of this Act. Existing promotion lists shall continue to
be valid until their expiration dates, or up to a maximum of
3 years after the effective date of this Act.
(b) Notwithstanding any statute, ordinance, rule, or
other laws to the contrary, all promotions in an affected
department to which this Act applies shall be administered in
the manner provided for in this Act. Provisions of the
Illinois Municipal Code, the Fire Protection District Act,
municipal ordinances, or rules adopted pursuant to such
authority and other laws relating to promotions in affected
departments shall continue to apply to the extent they are
compatible with this Act, but in the event of conflict
between this Act and any other law, this Act shall control.
(c) A home rule or non-home rule municipality may not
administer its fire department promotion process in a manner
that is inconsistent with this Act. This Section is a
limitation under subsection (i) of Section 6 of Article VII
of the Illinois Constitution on the concurrent exercise by
home rule units of the powers and functions exercised by the
State.
(d) This Act is intended to serve as a minimum standard
and shall be construed to authorize and not to limit:
(1) An appointing authority from establishing
different or supplemental promotional criteria or
components, provided that the criteria are job-related
and applied uniformly.
(2) The negotiation by an employer and an exclusive
bargaining representative of clauses within a collective
bargaining agreement relating to conditions, criteria, or
procedures for the promotion of employees who are members
of bargaining units.
(3) The negotiation by an employer and an exclusive
bargaining representative of provisions within a
collective bargaining agreement to achieve affirmative
action objectives, provided that such clauses are
consistent with applicable law.
(e) Local authorities and exclusive bargaining agents
affected by this Act may agree to waive one or more of its
provisions and bargain on the contents of those provisions,
provided that any such waivers shall be considered permissive
subjects of bargaining.
Section 15. Promotion process.
(a) For the purpose of granting promotion to any rank to
which this Act applies, the appointing authority shall from
time to time, as necessary, administer a promotion process in
accordance with this Act.
(b) Eligibility requirements to participate in the
promotional process may include a minimum requirement as to
the length of employment, education, training, and
certification in subjects and skills related to fire
fighting. After the effective date of this Act, any such
eligibility requirements shall be published at least one year
prior to the date of the beginning of the promotional process
and all members of the affected department shall be given an
equal opportunity to meet those eligibility requirements.
(c) All aspects of the promotion process shall be
equally accessible to all eligible employees of the
department. Every component of the testing and evaluation
procedures shall be published to all eligible candidates when
the announcement of promotional testing is made. The scores
for each component of the testing and evaluation procedures
shall be disclosed to each candidate as soon as practicable
after the component is completed.
(d) The appointing authority shall provide a separate
promotional examination for each rank that is filled by
promotion. All examinations for promotion shall be
competitive among the members of the next lower rank who meet
the established eligibility requirements and desire to submit
themselves to examination. The appointing authority may
employ consultants to design and administer promotion
examinations or may adopt any job-related examinations or
study materials that may become available, so long as they
comply with the requirements of this Act.
Section 20. Promotion lists.
(a) For the purpose of granting a promotion to any rank
to which this Act applies, the appointing authority shall
from time to time, as necessary, prepare a preliminary
promotion list in accordance with this Act. The preliminary
promotion list shall be distributed, posted, or otherwise
made conveniently available by the appointing authority to
all members of the department.
(b) A person's position on the preliminary promotion
list shall be determined by a combination of factors which
may include any of the following: (i) the person's score on
the written examination for that rank, determined in
accordance with Section 35; (ii) the person's seniority
within the department, determined in accordance with Section
40; (iii) the person's ascertained merit, determined in
accordance with Section 45; and (iv) the person's score on
the subjective evaluation, determined in accordance with
Section 50. Candidates shall be ranked on the list in rank
order based on the highest to the lowest total points scored
on all of the components of the test. Promotional components,
as defined herein, shall be determined and administered in
accordance with the referenced Section, unless otherwise
modified or agreed to as provided by paragraph (1) or (2) of
subsection (e) of Section 10. The use of physical criteria,
including but not limited to fitness testing, agility
testing, and medical evaluations, is specifically barred from
the promotion process.
(c) A person on the preliminary promotion list who is
eligible for a veteran's preference under the laws and
agreements applicable to the department may file a written
application for that preference within 10 days after the
initial posting of the preliminary promotion list. The
preference shall be calculated as provided under Section 55
and added to the total score achieved by the candidate on the
test. The appointing authority shall then make adjustments
to the rank order of the preliminary promotion list based on
any veteran's preferences awarded. The final adjusted
promotion list shall then be distributed, posted, or
otherwise made conveniently available by the appointing
authority to all members of the department.
(d) Whenever a promotional rank is created or becomes
vacant due to resignation, discharge, promotion, death, or
the granting of a disability or retirement pension, or any
other cause, the appointing authority shall appoint to that
position the person with the highest ranking on the final
promotion list for that rank, except that the appointing
authority shall have the right to pass over that person and
appoint the next highest ranked person on the list if the
appointing authority has reason to conclude that the highest
ranking person has demonstrated substantial shortcomings in
work performance or has engaged in misconduct affecting the
person's ability to perform the duties of the promoted rank
since the posting of the promotion list. If the highest
ranking person is passed over, the appointing authority shall
document its reasons for its decision to select the next
highest ranking person on the list. Unless the reasons for
passing over the highest ranking person are not remedial, no
person who is the highest ranking person on the list at the
time of the vacancy shall be passed over more than once. Any
dispute as to the selection of the first or second
highest-ranking person shall be subject to resolution in
accordance with any grievance procedure in effect covering
the employee.
A vacancy shall be deemed to occur in a position on the
date upon which the position is vacated, and on that same
date, a vacancy shall occur in all ranks inferior to that
rank, provided that the position or positions continue to be
funded and authorized by the corporate authorities. If a
vacated position is not filled due to a lack of funding or
authorization and is subsequently reinstated, the final
promotion list shall be continued in effect until all
positions vacated have been filled or for a period up to 5
years beginning from the date on which the position was
vacated. In such event, the candidate or candidates who
would have otherwise been promoted when the vacancy
originally occurred shall be promoted.
Any candidate may refuse a promotion once without losing
his or her position on the final adjusted promotion list.
Any candidate who refuses promotion a second time shall be
removed from the final adjusted promotion list, provided that
such action shall not prejudice a person's opportunities to
participate in future promotion examinations.
(e) A final adjusted promotion list shall remain valid
and unaltered for a period of not less than 2 nor more than 3
years after the date of the initial posting. Integrated
lists are prohibited and when a list expires it shall be
void, except as provided in subsection (d) of this Section.
If a promotion list is not in effect, a successor list shall
be prepared and distributed within 180 days after a vacancy,
as defined in subsection (d) of this Section.
(f) This Section 20 does not apply to the initial hiring
list.
Section 25. Monitoring.
(a) All aspects of the promotion process, including
without limitation the administration, scoring, and posting
of scores for the written examination and subjective
evaluation and the determination and posting of seniority and
ascertained merit scores, shall be subject to monitoring and
review in accordance with this Section and Sections 30 and
50.
(b) Two impartial persons who are not members of the
affected department shall be selected to act as observers by
the exclusive bargaining agent. The appointing authorities
may also select 2 additional impartial observers.
(c) The observers monitoring the promotion process are
authorized to be present and observe when any component of
the test is administered or scored. Except as otherwise
agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement, observers may
not interfere with the promotion process, but shall promptly
report any observed or suspected violation of the
requirements of this Act or an applicable collective
bargaining agreement to the appointing authority and all
other affected parties.
(d) The provisions of this Section do not apply to the
extent that they are inconsistent with provisions otherwise
agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement.
Section 30. Promotion examination components. Promotion
examinations that include components consisting of written
examinations, seniority points, ascertained merit, or
subjective evaluations shall be administered as provided in
Sections 35, 40, 45 and 50. The weight, if any, that is
given to any component included in a test may be set at the
discretion of the appointing authority provided that such
weight shall be subject to modification by the terms of any
collective bargaining agreement in effect on the effective
date of this Act or thereafter by negotiations between the
employer and an exclusive bargaining representative. If the
appointing authority establishes a minimum passing score,
such score shall be announced prior to the date of the
promotion process and it must be an aggregate of all
components of the testing process. All candidates shall be
allowed to participate in all components of the testing
process irrespective of their score on any one component.
The provisions of this Section do not apply to the extent
that they are inconsistent with provisions otherwise agreed
to in a collective bargaining agreement.
Section 35. Written examinations.
(a) The appointing authority may not condition
eligibility to take the written examination on the
candidate's score on any of the previous components of the
examination. The written examination for a particular rank
shall consist of matters relating to the duties regularly
performed by persons holding that rank within the department.
The examination shall be based only on the contents of
written materials that the appointing authority has
identified and made readily available to potential examinees
at least 90 days before the examination is administered. The
test questions and material must be pertinent to the
particular rank for which the examination is being given. The
written examination shall be administered after the
determination and posting of the seniority list, ascertained
merit points, and subjective evaluation scores. The written
examination shall be administered, the test materials opened,
and the results scored and tabulated.
(b) Written examinations shall be graded at the
examination site on the day of the examination immediately
upon completion of the test in front of the observers if such
observers are appointed under Section 25, or if the tests
are graded offsite by a bona fide testing agency, the
observers shall witness the sealing and the shipping of the
tests for grading and the subsequent opening of the scores
upon the return from the testing agency. Every examinee shall
have the right (i) to obtain his or her score on the
examination on the day of the examination or upon the day of
its return from the testing agency (or the appointing
authority shall require the testing agency to mail the
individual scores to any address submitted by the candidates
on the day of the examination); and (ii) to review the
answers to the examination that the examiners consider
correct. The appointing authority may hold a review session
after the examination for the purpose of gathering feedback
on the examination from the candidates.
(c) Sample written examinations may be examined by the
appointing authority and members of the department, but no
person in the department or the appointing authority
(including the Chief, Civil Service Commissioners, Board of
Fire and Police Commissioners, Board of Fire Commissioners,
or Fire Protection District Board of Trustees and other
appointed or elected officials) may see or examine the
specific questions on the actual written examination before
the examination is administered. If a sample examination is
used, actual test questions shall not be included. It is a
violation of this Act for any member of the department or the
appointing authority to obtain or divulge foreknowledge of
the contents of the written examination before it is
administered.
(d) Each department shall maintain reading and study
materials for its current written examination and the reading
list for the last 2 written examinations or for a period of 5
years, whichever is less, for each rank and shall make these
materials available and accessible at each duty station.
(e) The provisions of this Section do not apply to the
extent that they are in conflict with provisions otherwise
agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement.
Section 40. Seniority points.
(a) Seniority points shall be based only upon service
with the affected department and shall be calculated as of
the date of the written examination. The weight of this
component and its computation shall be determined by the
appointing authority or through a collective bargaining
agreement.
(b) A seniority list shall be posted before the written
examination is given and before the preliminary promotion
list is compiled. The seniority list shall include the
seniority date, any breaks in service, the total number of
eligible years, and the number of seniority points.
Section 45. Ascertained merit.
(a) The promotion test may include points for
ascertained merit. Ascertained merit points may be awarded
for education, training, and certification in subjects and
skills related to the fire service. The basis for granting
ascertained merit points, after the effective date of this
Act, shall be published at least one year prior to the date
ascertained merit points are awarded and all persons eligible
to compete for promotion shall be given an equal opportunity
to obtain ascertained merit points unless otherwise agreed to
in a collective bargaining agreement.
(b) Total points awarded for ascertained merit shall be
posted before the written examination is administered and
before the promotion list is compiled.
Section 50. Subjective evaluation.
(a) A promotion test may include subjective evaluation
components. Subjective evaluations may include an oral
interview, tactical evaluation, performance evaluation, or
other component based on subjective evaluation of the
examinee. The methods used for subjective evaluations may
include using any employee assessment centers, evaluation
systems, chief's points, or other methods.
(b) Any subjective component shall be identified to all
candidates prior to its application, be job-related, and be
applied uniformly to all candidates. Every examinee shall
have the right to documentation of his or her score on the
subjective component upon the completion of the subjective
examination component or its application.
(c) Where chief's points or other subjective methods are
employed that are not amenable to monitoring, monitors shall
not be required, but any disputes as to the results of such
methods shall be subject to resolution in accordance with any
collectively bargained grievance procedure in effect at the
time of the test.
(d) Where performance evaluations are used as a basis
for promotions, they shall be given annually and made readily
available to each candidate for review and they shall include
any disagreement or documentation the employee provides to
refute or contest the evaluation. These annual evaluations
are not subject to grievance procedures, unless used for
points in the promotion process.
(e) Total points awarded for subjective components shall
be posted before the written examination is administered and
before the promotion list is compiled.
Section 55. Veterans' preference. A person on a
preliminary promotion list who is eligible for veteran's
preference under any law or agreement applicable to an
affected department may file a written application for that
preference within 10 days after the initial posting of the
preliminary promotion list. The veteran's preference shall
be calculated as provided in the applicable law and added to
the applicant's total score on the preliminary promotion
list. Any person who has received a promotion from a
promotion list on which his or her position was adjusted for
veteran's preference, under this Act or any other law, shall
not be eligible for any subsequent veteran's preference under
this Act.
Section 60. Right to review. Any affected person or party
who believes that an error has been made with respect to
eligibility to take an examination, examination result,
placement or position on a promotion list, or veteran's
preference shall be entitled to a review of the matter by the
appointing authority or as otherwise provided by law.
Section 65. Violations.
(a) A person who knowingly divulges or receives test
questions or answers before a written examination, or
otherwise knowingly violates or subverts any requirement of
this Act commits a violation of this Act and may be subject
to charges for official misconduct.
(b) A person who is the knowing recipient of test
information in advance of the examination shall be
disqualified from the promotion examination or demoted from
the rank to which he was promoted, as applicable and
otherwise subjected to disciplinary actions.
Section 900. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
Section 8.27 as follows:
(30 ILCS 805/8.27 new)
Sec. 8.27. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6
and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required
for the implementation of any mandate created by this
amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly.
Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.