Section 21. Recruitment and Selection of Employees. —
Opportunity for government employment shall be open to all qualified citizens and positive efforts shall be exerted to attract the best qualified to enter the service. Employees shall be selected on the basis of fitness to perform the duties and assume the responsibilities of the positions.
When a vacancy occurs in a position in the first level of the Career Service as defined in Section 8, the employees in the department who occupy the next lower positions in the occupational group under which the vacant position is classified, and in other functionally related occupational groups and who are competent, qualified and with the appropriate civil service eligibility shall be considered for promotion.
When a vacancy occurs in a position in the second level of the Career Service as defined in Section 8, the employees in the government service who occupy the next lower positions in the occupational group under which the vacant position is classified and in other functionally related occupational groups and who are competent, qualified and with the appropriate civil service eligibility shall be considered for promotion.
For purposes of this Section, each department or agency shall evolve its own screening process, which may include tests of fitness, in accordance with standards and guidelines set by the Commission. Promotion boards shall be formed to formulate criteria for evaluation, conduct tests or interviews, and make systematic assessment of training experience.
If the vacancy is not filled by promotion as provided herein the same shall be filled by transfer of present employees in the government service, by reinstatement, by re-employment of persons separated through reduction in force, or by appointment of persons with the civil service eligibility appropriate to the positions.
A qualified next-in-rank employee shall have the right to appeal initially to the Secretaries or heads of agencies or instrumentalities including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters, then to the Merit System Protection Board, and finally to the Civil Service Commission an appointment made in favor of another employee if the appellant is not satisfied with the written special reason or reasons given by the appointing authority for such appointment; Provided, however, that the decision of the Civil Service Commission may be reviewed on certiorari only by the Supreme Court within thirty (30) days from receipt of the decision of the aggrieved party. For purposes of this Section, "qualified next-in-rank" refers to an employee appointed on a permanent basis to a position previously determined to be next-in-rank and who meets the requirements for appointment thereto as previously determined by the appointing authority and approved by the Commission.
Qualification in an appropriate examination shall be required for appointment to positions in the first and second levels in the career service in accordance with the Civil Service rules, except as otherwise provided in this Title: Provided, That whenever there is a civil service eligible actually available for appointment, no person who is not such an eligible shall be appointed even in a temporary capacity to any vacant position in the career service in the government or in any government-owned or controlled corporation with original charter, except when the immediate filling of the vacancy is urgently required in the public interest, or when the vacancy is not permanent, in which cases temporary appointments of non-eligibles may be made in the absence of eligibles actually and immediately available.
The appropriate examinations herein referred to shall be those given by the Commission and the different agencies: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall affect those eligibilities acquired prior to the effectivity of the Civil Service Law: Provided, further, That a person with a civil service eligibility acquired by successfully passing an examination shall be qualified for a position requiring a lower eligibility if he possesses the other requirements for appointment to such position.