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Commission approves change to rule 6.5g to allow hiring up to third-quartile pay rates
Summary
The State Civil Service commission voted to change rule 6.5g to allow agencies to hire extraordinarily qualified candidates up to the 3rd quartile of a job's pay range without director approval, a move staff said reflects market pay growth since 2019.
The State Civil Service commission approved a proposed amendment to rule 6.5g that replaces the word "midpoint" with "3rd quartile," allowing appointing authorities to hire extraordinarily qualified candidates up to the third quartile of a job's pay range without prior director approval.
General Counsel Sherry Gregoire told commissioners the change appears on line 2 of General Circular 2026-003 and is a one-word substitution: "the rate does not exceed the 3rd quartile of the range for the affected job." She framed the amendment as narrowly targeted to "extraordinary qualifications" hiring authority rather than a wholesale pay-scale reset.
Byron, speaking for the director's office, said the commission moved the standard to the midpoint in 2019 when pay scales were reset; since then market pay has outpaced the department's midpoints, and restoring authority to the third quartile will give agencies more flexibility to recruit competitive candidates without repeatedly requesting director sign-off. "That's why we're looking to set this authority back to the 3rd quartile to reflect the necessity of what needs to be offered in order to recruit some of these individuals," he said.
A commissioner asked whether re-extending unclassified authority risked "creep" down organizational charts and where the commission would draw a line. Byron and staff said such requests would be evaluated case by case and that audits and compliance review remain in place to require justification and documentation. "We still audit these with compliance and audit, so we're making sure that the agencies have their proper justification and documentation," Byron said.
After the legal and staff explanation, a commissioner moved to grant the department's request; the motion was seconded, and, there being no objection, the commission approved the rule change.
The commission did not set a contemporaneous numeric estimate of statewide fiscal impact for this single-word change; staff emphasized the amendment affects only hiring authority for "extraordinary qualifications" cases and that routine audit and documentation standards remain. The action takes place per General Circular 2026-003 as discussed at the commission meeting.
