Executive Order 740

Executive Order 740
by President of the United States
Amending Civil Service Rules Regarding Certification Procedures

Signed by President Theodore Roosevelt Monday, January 27, 1908

See the Notes section for a list of Executive Orders affected by or related to the issuance of this Executive Order.

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This executive order entirely rewrote Civil Service Rule VII. The following is the rule as rewritten, but not the full order text.

Rule VII.—Certification

Any position or employment in the classified service not excepted from competitive examination, unless filled by reinstatement, transfer, promotion, or reduction, shall be filled in the following manner:
(a) The nominating or appointing officer shall request the certification of eligibles, and the Commission shall certify, from the head of the register of eligibles appropriate for the group in which the position or positions to be filled are classified, a number of names sufficient to permit the nominating or appointing officer to consider three names in connection with each vacancy. Certification of an eligible for temporary appointment shall not affect his certification for probational appointment. Certifications shall be made without regard to sex unless sex is specified in the request.^[1]

(b) The nominating or appointing officer shall make selection for the first vacancy from the highest three names certified, with sole reference to merit and fitness, unless objection shall be made, and sustained by the Commission, to one or more of the persons certified, for any of the reasons stated in Rule V, section 4. For the second vacancy he shall make selection from the highest three remaining, who have not been selected, or considered by him for three separate vacancies, or against whom objection has not been made and sustained in the manner indicated. The third and any additional vacancies shall be filled in like manner. Any eligible who has been certified three times or considered three times in cases where there is no formal certification, for three vacancies in his turn, without being selected, may be subsequently selected, subject to the approval of the Commission, from the certificate on which his name last appeared, if the condition of the register has not so changed as to place him in other respects beyond reach of certification.^[1]

(c) The person selected for appointment shall be duly notified by the appointing officer, and upon accepting and reporting for duty shall receive from such officer a certificate of appointment for a probationary period of six months. If the conduct or capacity of the probationer be not satisfactory to the appointing officer the probationer shall be notified in writing that at the end of such probationary period he will not receive absolute appointment; otherwise his retention in the service shall be equivalent to his absolute appointment. A probationer separated from the service without delinquency or misconduct may be restored to the register of eligibles, in the discretion of the Commission, for the remainder of his period of eligibility.^[2]
Certification for appointment in the Departments or independent offices at Washington shall be so made as to maintain, as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, the apportionment of such appointments among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population: Provided, That appointments to the following-named positions shall not be so apportioned, viz: Plate printer, printer's assistant, skilled helper, and operative in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; positions in the field service of the military staff departments and at Army Headquarters, mail-bag repair shop and mail-lock repair shop, Government Printing Office, Pension Agency, and local offices in the District of Columbia; apprentice, student, gardener, engraver, carpenter, cabinetmaker, painter, plumber, plumber's helper, electric wireman, electric lineman, and electrician's helper.^[3]
The Commission may arrange the territory of the United States into appropriate districts for the purpose of certification to positions in parts of the service not subject to the apportionment, and certification to any such position may be confined to residents of the district in which such position is located.