Board rejects group of Dallas sergeants' bid to change timing for promotional exam eligibility
November 04, 2025 | Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
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Five sergeants (Omar Figueroa and others) asked the board to interpret Rule 4.3(b) so that candidates who would reach a rank's five-year service requirement within six months of the assessment center (the exam's second component) could be allowed to compete. Counsel for the city urged the board to sustain the department's practice of using the initial written administration as the anchor point for the six-month window.
John Snyder, representing the group of grievants, said the rule's plain language — "six months following the administration of the examination" — supports measuring the period from the completed examination. "The examination is not the written test alone," Snyder said in closing.
Jared Davis, civil service director, and city counsel said the department's practice is necessary for administrability: written administrations establish the candidate pool for later assessment centers, and moving the eligibility trigger to dates after assessment center administrations would complicate scheduling and risk multiple overlapping eligibility registers.
After hearing testimony from grievants and the city, the board voted 3-1 to deny the appeals. Board members reiterated that the Civil Service Department should consider clarifying announcement language in future promotional exercises to reduce confusion over the phrase "administration of the examination." No retroactive relief was ordered for officers not named in the grievances.
The board then continued with routine administrative business, including adopting a tentative 2026 meeting schedule and directing staff to circulate a draft annual report in early 2026.
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