NY HELPS Program

A:  The following are the general guidelines provided by the New York State Department of Civil Services and utilized by the Rockland County Department of Personnel in determining which titles to submit to the New York State Civil Service Commission for inclusion in the HELPS program: 

1. There are no preferred lists in existence for the title requested; 

2. Diversity, inclusion, and equity principles are integrated into outreach, recruitment, interview and hiring efforts associated with NY HELPS Program - Local positions; and 

3. Any promotion eligible list for the title(s) must be non-mandatory. Open-competitive eligible list does not need to be exhausted. 

A:  The standard application submission process should be followed, including submission of the “Cover Sheet to the Rockland County Application for Examination or Employment” along with a fully completed application.  Please include (HELPS Program) following the civil service job title on both the cover sheet and application.  For example, if you are submitting an application for Shift Operator approved as part of the HELPS Program, the title should be designated as “Shift Operator (HELPS Program)”.    

A:  It is recommended that the eligible list be canvassed and used first, but it is not required. If a title is approved in an agency’s rules for use on a non-competitive basis, the agency has the discretion to make non-competitive appointments or competitive appointments.

A:  Yes.  Further, time served in the provisional status will count toward the non-competitive probationary term.  

A:  Yes, the HELPS program can be used for positions filled through promotion examinations when the promotion eligible list has either been exhausted or made non-mandatory.  Note that the HELPS program requires that employees in the direct line of promotion must be offered the appointment first if there is a mandatory field of promotion (3 or more).  Only after the direct line promotional field becomes exhausted or non-mandatory may a position in a HELPS program approved title be offered to a qualified individual who is not in the promotional field.    

A:   Section 52.12 (Applicable to Municipal Commissions) of the Civil Service law only provides for non-competitive employees with at least two years in the title to participate in promotion examinations for entrance level titles only.  Because of this it is unlikely that any employees appointed to NY HELPS program titles would be eligible to participate in promotion examinations while they remain in the non-competitive class. Once the employees are transitioned into the competitive class, they may be eligible to take promotion exams depending on how the promotion qualifications are written on the examination announcement.   

A:  Promotion qualifications are determined at the time of the examination announcement. There is no prohibition to counting time served in a HELPS program title towards meeting promotion qualifications, however only employees in the competitive class or non-competitive class who meet the criteria outlined in Section 52.12 of Civil Service Law are eligible for promotion exams.

A:  Probationary terms for employees appointed to HELPS program titles placed in the non-competitive class should be treated in the same manner as for all other non-competitive appointments pursuant to Rockland County Civil Service Rule XVI(1)(a) (“except as otherwise provided, every permanent appointment or promotion in the competitive, non-competitive, or labor class…shall be for a probationary period of not less than eight nor more than twenty-six weeks, except as provided herein.”).   

A:  Employees would not serve a new probationary term but would complete the remaining months of the probationary term pursuant to Rockland County Civil Service Rule XVI.  For example, if an employee were appointed to a non-competitive HELPS program title and served 20 weeks prior to the title reverting to the competitive class, the employee would continue to serve the remaining probationary term of 6 weeks. 

If an employee who was initially appointed to a HELPS title and who has completed part or all of their probationary period subsequently gets appointed from an eligible list for the same title, are they required to serve a new probationary period? 

A:  Yes, the employee will need to complete a new probationary period; however, the appointing authority has the discretion to reduce the probationary period to a minimum of eight (8) weeks.

Does an employee, who was initially hired as a provisional and successfully completed their probationary period, need to serve another probationary period if they are appointed to the same title in the HELPS program?

A: No, the employee would not have to serve an additional probationary period when they are permanently appointed to the same title in the HELPS program.