Request By:
James W. Utter, Esq.
Corporation Counsel
City of Paducah
P.O. Box 2267
Paducah, Kentucky 42001
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter raising a question concerning the interpretation of that portion of KRS 90.350(6) which provides as follows: "Whenever, from any cause, there shall be a vacancy in any of the classified services, the employe in said classification ranking next highest in seniority, if he chooses, shall succeed to and fill said vacancy. . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
In your situation the license inspector is preparing to retire and the assistant license inspector is requesting appointment to the position of license inspector pursuant to the above-mentioned statute. This is the first time the position of license inspector has become vacant since it was placed under the city's civil service system. The civil service commission is divided on whether the person serving as assistant license inspector would automatically move up to fill the vacancy or whether advancement depends upon a specific designation in the ordinances setting forth what specific jobs are in the same classification.
KRS 90.310(1) provides in part as follows:
". . . In cities of the second class in which a civil service ordinance was adopted before June 19, 1946, the city shall, by ordinance, create civil service classifications for all employes consistent with the actual work to be performed by such employes; in other cities of the second class, and in cities of the third class, the city may, by ordinance, classify employes and designate the class of employes it desires to include."
While KRS 90.300 to 90.410 deal with civil service systems in cities of the second and third classes, the terms "seniority" and "classification" are not defined anywhere within those provisions. In OAG 78-314, copy enclosed, we dealt with definitions of "seniority" from other sources. It has been stated to mean the increase in compensation, status and responsibility resulting from promotion or step progression within a class of the classified service. Furthermore, it has been defined to consist of relative positions among all employes within a specified job group determined by length of service.
In OAG 76-160, copy enclosed, at pages 4-6, we dealt with KRS 90.350(6) and the meaning of the term "classification. " We noted that "classification" can be defined as a group of related positions or titles even though the same rate of compensation is not applied to each position in the group. In that opinion we considered a hypothetical classification consisting of Laborer I, II and III, titles which were part of the same or similar series. Since each group had a different rate of pay, "classification" would have to relate to the series rather than to the individual title of the positions. We did state that in our opinion, under that example, KRS 90.350(6) refers to the series rather than to the individual title of the positions. Furthermore, in 15A Am.Jur.2d, Civil Service, Sect. 24, it is stated that notwithstanding the fact that there is a substantial difference between the salaries provided for various positions, that fact alone does not require that a separate classification be established for them.
While we cannot find a Kentucky case construing the term "classification, " the term "class" was, in Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation v. Reeves, 294 Ky. 458, 171 S.W.2d 978, 982 (1943), defined as a "group of persons, things, qualities, or activities, having common characteristics or attributes." The classification under your factual situation may consist solely of license inspectors or it may be that license inspectors are only one part of a group of related positions comprising a particular classification.
Thus, under your fact situation, the assistant license inspector would not automatically move into the vacant position of license inspector. The assistant license inspector would have to be the person ranking highest in seniority within that classification established under the city's civil service system which included license inspectors before he could automatically assume the vacant position. We cannot specifically determine whether the assistant license inspector has satisfied statutory requirements of KRS 90.350(6) as we do not have the information pertaining to the classification system contained within the city's civil service system as it relates to license inspectors.