ENHANCING THE CIVIL SERVICE RULES
Enhancing Civil Service Rules to Improve the County’s Hiring Process
As candidates in the County of Los Angeles, you benefit from a hiring process that is uniformly guided by the Civil Service Rules in our County Code. These Rules outline what actions the County can take at every stage of recruitment, from accepting and reviewing applications to administering competitive exams and placing successful candidates on eligible lists for hiring or promotion.
Because these Rules set consistent standards, you can trust that you will be treated fairly and evaluated in the same way as every other candidate. This consistency helps ensure transparency, protects the integrity of the hiring process, and gives you an equal opportunity to compete for County jobs at every stage of your career. Ultimately, this supports a qualified, professional workforce that serves the public effectively and gives you a clearer, more reliable path as you pursue County employment.
Since these Rules dictate how we conduct many of our internal processes, it's vital that they remain up to date, reflecting the County’s current needs and employment best practices. This is why the Department of Human Resources has been working with our partners - including the County departments and labor unions - to update and modernize the Rules to enhance the County’s hiring process. On April 28, 2026, the Board of Supervisors approved the proposed revisions to Civil Service Rules 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11, which collectively govern how the County recruits and selects candidates for civil service (classified) positions.
What will these rule changes mean to you as a current or future applicant?
- Increased time to submit appeals for application rejections and examination scores.
- Additional promotional pathways for temporary and recurrent employees.
- Decrease the amount of time for qualified candidates to be considered from eligible lists by establishing a default 3-band structure.
- Increase efficiency in hiring to career pipeline programs and high vacancy positions through non-competitive examinations, where appropriate.
Please see below for more detailed explanations of the key changes by each Civil Service Rule. For answers to common questions on how these Rule changes impacts the hiring process at each stage, please click here to download the FAQs. To read the full text of the rules, please click here.
Key Changes by Civil Service Rule
Promotional Pathways
If you are already a County employee, you will have expanded opportunities for promotion through several updated pathways. With more pathways available, you have a greater chance to advance in your career, gain new responsibilities, and compete for higher-level positions that match your skills and experience.
- Employees transferring between departments will remain eligible for appointment from departmental promotional lists (i.e., lists restricted to employees of a specific County department) in their prior department for up to 60 days from leaving. This means that if you recently transferred from your former department, you no longer lose access to promotional opportunities you already earned. This protects the time and effort you invested in the hiring process and ensures you will still have a fair chance of being selected for positions you qualify for.
- Recurrent and temporary employees may now qualify for higher-level permanent positions based on the amount of qualifying time they have served in their current position. If you have been working in a recurrent or temporary position, your experience now counts more directly toward eligibility for permanent jobs. This pathway helps you transition into stable, long-term County employment.
Appeal Rights
Applicants have the right to appeal an application rejection. They will now have 15 days instead of 10 to appeal application rejections or examination scores. This additional time provides a more reasonable window to review results, gather supporting information, and submit a well-prepared appeal if they believe an error was made.
Posting Periods
The required timeline for posting examination announcements online will be updated to reflect new minimum posting periods.
- Open-Competitive Examinations (These are exams open to the public) - Four (4) Calendar Days
- Promotional Examinations (These are exams restricted to County employees for promotion only) - Ten (10) Calendar Days
Appraisal of Promotability (AP)
Previously, all promotional examinations required an appraisal of promotability (AP), which added time and administrative burdens to the process. With the new Rule change, departments will have the flexibility to decide whether an AP is necessary. As an applicant, this means a faster and more efficient promotional process.
Appeal Rights
Like Rule 6, Rule 7 will provide applicants with broader rights to appeal decisions related to their test results. The appeal period will extend from 10 days to 15 business days, giving applicants a longer opportunity to request a review and helping to promote a fairer evaluation process.
Options for Non-Competitive Examinations
A noncompetitive examination is a specialized hiring method used when the Director of Personnel determines that traditional competitive testing is impractical (unrealistic or not feasible). Unlike competitive exams, which rank applicants against one another to identify the highest scorers, a noncompetitive exam evaluates whether each applicant meets a defined standard of capability. Using noncompetitive examinations in appropriate situations helps maintain fair access to employment opportunities, reduces unnecessary barriers, shortens hiring timelines, and supports more equitable pathways into County service.
Competition is considered impracticable when:
- A lack of qualified applicants compared to the number of available vacancies.
- Traditional testing is considered impractical due to the nature of the knowledge, skills, or abilities required for the position.
- The recruitment is for manual laborer positions.
- The recruitment is for temporary entry-level career pipeline program (i.e., TempLA, Career Development Intern, Youth Worker, etc.).
Eligible Lists
An eligible list contains the names of individuals who have passed the civil service examination and are qualified for consideration. Hiring departments use these lists to fill vacancies by selecting candidates in banded order.
The update to eligible lists will include:
- Greater flexibility in the amount of time a qualified candidate can be selected by hiring departments. The default list duration of one year for standard exams will be removed.
- More opportunity for hiring departments to select qualified candidates based on their availability or willingness to work under set conditions (work location, shift, etc.). This change allows departments to match candidates to positions more effectively, giving candidates a better chance of being selected for positions that align with their preferences and circumstances. It also helps ensure that candidates who are ready and willing to work under certain conditions can be prioritized when those opportunities arise.
Grouping and Banding of Qualified Candidates
Under the banding system, candidates with similar examination scores are grouped into the same band, and hiring departments may consider any candidate within the highest reachable band. The County will update its scoring structure by moving from a default 5-band to 3-band system to better reflect candidate readiness and likelihood of success in the job. By reducing the number of bands, candidates who perform well on the exam have a greater opportunity to be placed in a higher band, increasing their visibility and reachability on eligible lists. This streamlined approach allows departments to make more timely and flexible hiring decisions while still maintaining merit-based selection.
Previous Banding Structure
Band 1 | 95% – 100%
Band 2 | 89% – 94%
Band 3 | 83% – 88%
Band 4 | 77% – 82%
Band 5 | 70% – 76%
New Banding Structure
Band 1 | 90% – 100%
Band 2 | 80% – 89%
Band 3 | 70% – 79%
Rule of 5 and Rule of 10
All appointments must be made from the highest-ranking group on an eligible list. The updated Rule expands the selection pool for most eligible lists.
- Departmental Promotional Lists (restricted to employees of a specific County department)
The existing Rule of 5 remains in place. When the highest-ranking group does not contain at least five (5) available candidates, the appointing authority may consider the next highest group or groups until a cumulative total of at least five (5) candidates is reached.
- Interdepartmental Promotional (restricted to employees of the County) and Open Competitive Lists (open to County employees and members of the public)
When the highest-ranking group does not include at least ten (10) available candidates, the appointment may be made from the next group or groups until a cumulative total of at least ten (10) candidates is reached.
Appeal Rights
In addition to the appeal period expanding from 10 days to 15 business days, applicants gain new rights to appeal decisions related to non-acceptance for select certification lists. A select certification is a specialized subset of an eligible list created when a hiring department requires specific skills or qualifications that were not evaluated in the original examination.