Supervisors hear hours of testimony on city'use of exempt (non'civil-service) positions; unions call for audit

Supervisor Feuer opened a hearing at the Government Audit and Oversight Committee on April 4 that examined the city's use of exempt appointments ' positions hired outside the competitive civil service process ' and whether that use undermines the civil service system.

Kate Howard, managing deputy director at the Department of Human Resources, told the committee that departments request exempt hires by submitting a form with a detailed project justification, duration and funding sources; DHR reviews requests and forwards approvals to the mayor's office. Howard said the most-used categories in the city are category 16 (seasonal/as'needed) and category 18 (project-based, training and limited'term roles). She said category 18 positions often support job-readiness and apprenticeship programs, IT implementations and capital projects and noted a shift of many trainees from category 16 into category 18 to better reflect responsibilities and provide earlier access to…