Sierra County Municipal Code Ch. 3.03 Recruitment, Applications, and Selection for Employment

A. The appointing authority shall be responsible for the recruitment of persons who are to be considered for employment within their respective departments. An active recruitment program shall be conducted to attract suitable numbers of qualified applicants to compete for county service.

B. Recruitment programs shall be conducted in such a manner and for such time periods as determined by the appointing authority to be useful and expedient for the class involved. The appointing authority may leave the recruitment open for an indefinite time or until the position is filled.

C. No offer or commitment of employment may be made to any applicant until after the specified deadline for that position has passed and sufficient time has elapsed for the processing of applications, administration of exams, and the certification and referral of applicants.

D. The appointing authority may utilize job vacancy announcements, bulletins, advertisements, and other methods to publicize employment opportunities with the county.

E. When federal or state laws, grants, or contracts stipulate, the appointing authority shall be responsible for notifying the appropriate public and private agencies concerning job openings in order to comply with applicable equal employment opportunity practices.

A. Applications for employment shall be made on official county job application forms and according to such procedures as may be prescribed by the Personnel Director. Applications shall be filed at the county department or at such places as may be approved by the appointing authority on or before any specified final filing date. It shall be the sole responsibility of the applicant to meet the required filing date. In addition, applicants shall submit such documents or supplemental information as required by the Personnel Director or appointing authority in order to verify or evaluate the applicant’s qualifications and background.

B. Applications shall only be accepted when there is an official vacancy announcement or notice posted for the class title applied for, when there is a vacancy anticipated, or when a class is designated for continuous recruitment.

C. Applications, which are materially incomplete or improperly executed, will be rejected.

D. Neither the issuance of an application form, nor an invitation to apply, shall be construed as incurring an obligation to accept or approve any application subsequently submitted.

E. Applicants may be rejected by the appointing authority and/or refused further consideration, examination, or appointment for any of the following reasons provided such reasons can be substantiated and documented:

1. The applicant is found to lack any of the minimum qualifications established for the class;

2. The failure of an applicant to submit an application according to established procedures or within a prescribed time period;

3. The failure of an applicant to complete the application according to instructions, or failure to submit required documents or additional information, or failure to submit a legible and comprehensible application;

4. The applicant has willfully made a false statement with regard to qualifications or background or has otherwise practiced deception or fraud in connection with an application;

5. The applicant has attempted to use, or has used, unauthorized aids, cheated, or otherwise attempted to secure an undue advantage on any examination;

6. The application submitted is for a job class for which applications are not being accepted at that time;

7. The applicant has failed to appear for a scheduled examination;

8. The applicant has failed to pass any phase of the examination process;

9. The applicant has obtained information regarding examinations to which the individual is not entitled;

10. The application has been on file for over 12 months;

11. The applicant is found to be physically or mentally unable to perform the assigned duties of the class applied for;

12. The applicant has been convicted of a crime or has a record of convictions, the nature of which would affect the individual’s suitability for employment in the class;

13. The applicant has used or attempted to use political or personal pressure or bribery to secure an advantage in obtaining employment;

14. The applicant is under 18 years of age;

15. The applicant is between 16 and 18 years of age and has applied for a job which is defined as hazardous by the United States Department of Labor pursuant to the 1974 Federal Fair Labor Standards Act; or

16. For any other job-related reason the appointing authority has determined adversely affects the applicant’s suitability for appointment.

A. The appointing authority shall be responsible for the determination and administration of selection methods for filling all positions and establishing whether an examination shall be conducted on an intradepartmental, interdepartmental, or open competitive basis. Each appointing authority shall confer with the Personnel Director to determine the appropriate procedures to be followed.

B. Examinations shall measure knowledge, skills, and characteristics validly required for the successful performance of duties for a particular class or classes. The appointing authority may use such forms and methods in examining as may be appropriate for the class, including one or a combination of any of the following:

1. Evaluations of training and/or experience;

2. Written examinations;

3. Oral examinations;

4. Performance and/or simulated work sample examinations;

5. Medical examinations of health or physical condition where appropriate for the class and limited to evaluation capability to perform on the essential job requirement;

6. Examinations of physical capabilities, psychomotor control, or dexterity and limited to evaluation capability to perform on the essential job requirement; and

7. Ratings of past work performance and/or promotional potential.

C. The appointing authority shall establish such time limits, methods of recording answers, regulations for admittance to examinations, policies on retesting, and such other administrative procedures as deemed appropriate for each examination.

D. The Personnel Director shall take such measures as are necessary to ensure that uniform standards are maintained regarding instructions, procedures, and other test conditions to afford fair and equal treatment to all applicants for a given examination.

E. Examinations may be administered at such times and in such places as are necessary and practical.

F. The appointing authority may designate such qualified persons to administer examinations and serve as examiners and test monitors as may be practical and expedient.

G. The appointing authority shall utilize professionally acceptable principles and methods in the development of procedures for scoring, setting passing points, scaling, rounding fractions, converting and combining scores, and weighing examination components as are necessary to ensure that the final scores meet acceptable standards of validity and reliability.

H. The appointing authority shall establish procedures and take such precautions as are necessary to safeguard the security and confidentiality of examination materials and to ensure that equal opportunity to compete is afforded all applicants.

I. Interviews and other examinations conducted by appointing authorities for the purpose of making selection decisions from among candidates shall be job related. Appointing authorities may request the Personnel Director to provide technical assistance in developing and administering such examinations. The Personnel Director, in coordination with the appointing authority, may develop standards and procedures for the content and administration of final selection examinations relating to such matters as the composition of examination boards, the development and administration of examinations, and scoring methods.

J. Interviews should not be conducted by one interviewer, except when unusual circumstances make it impractical to have two or more interviewers conduct an examination.

K. Appointing authorities shall give sufficient final selection consideration to an adequate number of the available candidates to provide for competitive selection and to ensure the employment of relatively more qualified individuals to the county service. The appointing authority shall be responsible for giving full final selection consideration to all candidates.

L. The appointing authority may hold such supplemental interviews with applicants or make other such inquiries as they deem necessary.

A. Post Offer of Employment. A candidate for employment in a position of employment as defined in this section who has been offered employment with the County upon a finding that said candidate is fully qualified for the position, shall undergo a background investigation, including criminal, and verification of past employment. The standards used for employment verification and background investigation may vary depending upon the nature and duties of the position being filled. Those standards shall be established by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, as amended from time to time.

B. Prior to Offer of Employment. The appointing authority may require past employment verification and background investigation prior to an offer of employment where the position involves access to County funds (other than petty cash), County property of historical value, confidential information, controlled substances or participation in law enforcement activities.

C. Employee Defined. An employee position for the purposes of this section includes full time, contract, seasonal, temporary positions, and independent contractors. (Ord. 1080, eff. 10/4/17)

A. The probationary period shall be regarded as an integral part of the selection examination process and shall be utilized for closely observing the newly hired or promoted employee’s work abilities and performance. No employee shall be deemed to be a permanent employee until they have successfully completed their probationary employment for the employment position that the employee occupies with the county.

B. Every peace officer employed by the Sheriff’s Department shall serve, to the satisfaction of the appointing authority, a probationary period which shall be the equivalent of 18 months of consecutive full-time employment. All other county employees shall serve, to the satisfaction of the appointing authority, a probationary period which shall be the equivalent of 12 full months of consecutive full-time employment.

C. An employee may be discharged at any time during his or her probationary period and without reason or cause and without providing any hearing. The appointing authority shall provide proper notification to the employee and a separation report to the Auditor’s office.

D. An employee shall attain permanent status upon satisfactory completion of the probationary period of employment. Except as otherwise provided for employees receiving promotions, no employee shall gain permanent (nonprobationary status) unless and until the appointing authority certifies in writing to the employee and the Personnel Director of his or her acceptance of the employee as satisfactorily completing their probationary employment. The appointing authority shall endeavor to notify all probationary employees of the completion, termination or extension of probationary employment prior to the completion of the probationary period. An appointing authority may extend the probation period for an additional six months under the following conditions:

1. Prior to the expiration of the probation period, the appointing authority gives the employee written notice of intention to extend the probation period, which notice shall contain the reasons for the extension. Any reason, subjective or objective, shall be sufficient.

2. In the event that the appointing authority fails to provide written notice to the probationary employee of satisfactory completion of his or her probationary employment, the probationary status shall be deemed to be extended for an additional six-month period; at the end of which, unless there is further action by the appointing authority, the employee will be deemed to have successfully completed his or her probationary employment.

E. If an employee is promoted within an employment classification (such as the range of positions in the classification for road worker – as between a class I, II or III or Deputy Sheriff I, II or III) then in such case the probationary periods shall be (1) the equivalent of 26 consecutive weeks of FTE (full-time employment) for all employees other than Deputy Sheriffs and (2) a probationary period which shall be the equivalent of 52 consecutive weeks of FTE (full-time employment) for Deputy Sheriffs. All other employees receiving promotions or being changed to positions outside of his or her existing class for employment shall serve a probation period as set out in subsection (B) of this section.

F. During a probationary period, if an employee’s performance does not meet the required standards for the position to which the employee was promoted, the employee shall have the right, in lieu of termination, to voluntarily demote back to the former position in which permanent status is held, so long as the former position is vacant and has not been filled with another employee or eliminated.

G. Unless notified in writing by the appointing authority prior to the completion of the probationary period, a promoted employee shall attain permanent status upon the completion of the probationary period.

H. When an employee takes leave while serving any probationary period, the period of probation shall be extended accordingly. (Ord. 1026, eff. 11/19/10; Ord. 1015, eff. 7/2/09)

While receiving any state aid pursuant to Article 3, commencing with Cal. Penal Code § 6040, Sierra County will adhere to the standards for recruitment and training established by the Board of Corrections for the training of law enforcement and corrections personnel.

A. Sierra County declares that it desires to qualify to receive aid from the state of California under the provisions of Cal. Penal Code § 13522, Chapter 1, of Title 4, Part 4, of the California Penal Code.

B. Pursuant to Cal. Penal Code § 13510(c), Chapter 1, the Sierra County Sheriff will adhere to standards for recruitment and training established by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).

C. Pursuant to Cal. Penal Code § 13512, Chapter 1, the Commission and its representatives may make such inquiries as deemed appropriate by the Commission to ascertain that the Sierra County Sheriff’s public safety dispatcher personnel adhere to standards for selection and training established by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

Whenever a department head believes that there may be existing county employees who are qualified for a vacant position within his or her department, the department head shall be allowed to limit the advertisement of the position to all county employees and shall be allowed to select an existing county employee for the vacant position without having to undertake and/or complete a full outside recruitment. Any such announcement of the employment opportunity may be accomplished by the publication of a job announcement that is circulated internal to county employees and departments. Any such promotion and/or transfer to another position in the county (employment) shall not be subject to the recruitment procedures set out in Chapter 3.03 SCC; provided, however, that employment applications shall be required as otherwise set out in SCC 3.03.020 and the selection process as set out in SCC 3.03.030 shall be followed. The intent here is to allow a department head to hire an existing employee who wants to transfer from his or her present job, without having to go through the full recruitment process.