§ 63A-17-301 — Career service -- Exempt positions -- Schedules for civil service positions -- Coverage of career service provisions.

(1) Except as provided in Subsection (3)(d), the following positions are exempt from the career service provisions of this chapter and are designated under the following schedules:
(1)(a) schedule AA includes the governor, members of the Legislature, and all other elected state officers;
(1)(b) schedule AB includes appointed executives and board or commission executives enumerated in Section 67-22-2;
(1)(c) schedule AC includes all employees and officers in:
(1)(c)(i) the office and at the residence of the governor;
(1)(c)(ii) the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office;
(1)(c)(iii) the Office of the State Auditor; and
(1)(c)(iv) the Office of the State Treasurer;
(1)(d) schedule AD includes employees who:
(1)(d)(i) are in a confidential relationship to an agency head or commissioner; and
(1)(d)(ii) report directly to, and are supervised by, a department head, commissioner, or deputy director of an agency or its equivalent;
(1)(e) schedule AE includes each employee of the State Board of Education that the State Board of Education designates as exempt from the career service provisions of this chapter;
(1)(f) schedule AG includes employees in the Office of the Attorney General who are under their own career service pay plan under Sections 67-5-7 through 67-5-13;
(1)(g) schedule AH includes:
(1)(g)(i) teaching staff of all state institutions; and
(1)(g)(ii) employees of the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind who are:
(1)(g)(ii)(A) educational interpreters as classified by the division; or
(1)(g)(ii)(B) educators as defined by Section 53E-8-102;
(1)(h) schedule AN includes employees of the Legislature;
(1)(i) schedule AO includes employees of the judiciary;
(1)(j) schedule AP includes all judges in the judiciary;
(1)(k) schedule AQ includes:
(1)(k)(i) members of state and local boards and councils appointed by the governor and governing bodies of agencies;
(1)(k)(ii) a water commissioner appointed under Section 73-5-1;
(1)(k)(iii) other local officials serving in an ex officio capacity; and
(1)(k)(iv) officers, faculty, and other employees of institutions of higher education;
(1)(l) schedule AR includes employees in positions that involve responsibility:
(1)(l)(i) for determining policy;
(1)(l)(ii) for determining the way in which a policy is carried out; or
(1)(l)(iii) of a type not appropriate for career service, as determined by the agency head with the concurrence of the director;
(1)(m) schedule AS includes any other employee:
(1)(m)(i) whose appointment is required by statute to be career service exempt;
(1)(m)(ii) whose agency is not subject to this chapter; or
(1)(m)(iii) whose agency has authority to make rules regarding the performance, compensation, and bonuses for its employees;
(1)(n) schedule AT includes employees of the Division of Technology Services, designated as executive/professional positions by the director of the Division of Technology Services with the concurrence of the director of the division;
(1)(o) schedule AU includes patients and inmates employed in state institutions;
(1)(p) employees of the Department of Workforce Services, designated as schedule AW:
(1)(p)(i) who are temporary employees that are federally funded and are required to work under federally qualified merit principles as certified by the director; or
(1)(p)(ii) for whom substantially all of their work is repetitive, measurable, or transaction based, and who voluntarily apply for and are accepted by the Department of Workforce Services to work in a pay for performance program designed by the Department of Workforce Services with the concurrence of the director of the division;
(1)(q) subject to Subsection (6), schedule AX includes employees in positions that:
(1)(q)(i) require the regular supervision and performance evaluation of one or more other employees; and
(1)(q)(ii) are not designated exempt from career service under any other schedule described in this Subsection (1); and
(1)(r) for employees in positions that are temporary, seasonal, time limited, funding limited, or variable hour in nature, under schedule codes and parameters established by the division by administrative rule.
(2) The civil service shall consist of two schedules as follows:
(2)(a) (2)(a)(i) Schedule A is the schedule consisting of positions under Subsection (1).
(2)(a)(ii) Removal from any appointive position under schedule A, unless otherwise regulated by statute, is at the pleasure of the appointing officers without regard to tenure.
(2)(b) Schedule B is the competitive career service schedule, consisting of:
(2)(b)(i) all positions filled through competitive selection procedures as defined by the director; or
(2)(b)(ii) positions filled through a division approved on-the-job examination intended to appoint a qualified person with a disability, or a veteran in accordance with Title 71A, Chapter 2, Veterans Preference.
(3) (3)(a) The director, after consultation with the heads of concerned executive branch departments and agencies and with the approval of the governor, shall allocate positions to the appropriate schedules under this section.
(3)(b) Agency heads shall make requests and obtain approval from the director before changing the schedule assignment and tenure rights of any position.
(3)(c) Unless the director's decision is reversed by the governor, when the director denies an agency's request, the director's decision is final.
(3)(d) (3)(d)(i) An agency may file a request with the division:
(3)(d)(i)(A) to keep a position scheduled as a schedule B position as a schedule B position; or
(3)(d)(i)(B) to reschedule a position that is scheduled as a schedule A position as a schedule B position.
(3)(d)(ii) The division shall review a request filed under Subsection (3)(d)(i) and approve the request only if the exception is necessary to conform to a requirement imposed as a condition precedent to receipt of federal funds or grant of a tax benefit under federal law.
(4) (4)(a) Compensation for employees of the Legislature shall be established by the directors of the legislative offices in accordance with Section 36-12-7.
(4)(b) Compensation for employees of the judiciary shall be established by the state court administrator in accordance with Section 78A-2-107.
(4)(c) Compensation for officers, faculty, and other employees of state universities and institutions of higher education shall be established as provided in Title 53H, Chapter 1, Utah System of Higher Education, and Title 53H, Chapter 3, Institutions of Higher Education Generally.
(4)(d) Unless otherwise provided by law, compensation for all other schedule A employees shall be established by their appointing authorities, within ranges approved by, and after consultation with the director.
(5) An employee who is in a position designated schedule AC and who holds career service status on June 30, 2010, shall retain the career service status if the employee:
(5)(a) remains in the position that the employee is in on June 30, 2010; and
(5)(b) does not elect to convert to career service exempt status in accordance with a rule made by the division.
(6) (6)(a) An employee who is hired for a schedule AX position on or after July 1, 2022, is exempt from career service status.
(6)(b) An employee who before July 1, 2022, is a career service employee employed in a schedule B position that is rescheduled to a schedule AX position on July 1, 2022, shall maintain the employee's career service status for the duration of the employee's employment in the same position unless the employee voluntarily converts to career service exempt status before July 1, 2023.
(6)(c) (6)(c)(i) Subject to Subsection (6)(c)(ii), an employee is exempt from career service status if:
(6)(c)(i)(A) before July 1, 2022, the employee was a probationary employee in a schedule B position and had not completed the probationary period; and
(6)(c)(i)(B) on July 1, 2022, the schedule B position in which the probationary employee is employed is rescheduled as a scheduled AX position.
(6)(c)(ii) An employee described in Subsection (6)(c)(i):
(6)(c)(ii)(A) is not a probationary employee on or after July 1, 2022; and
(6)(c)(ii)(B) is exempt from career service status on and after July 1, 2022, unless the employee changes employment to a schedule B position.
(6)(d) The division shall disseminate to each employee described in Subsection (6)(b) information on financial and other incentives for voluntary conversion to career-service exempt status.
(6)(e) An agency may adopt a policy, created in consultation with the division, for agency review of recommendations that schedule AX employees be suspended, demoted, or dismissed from employment.

Legislative History

Amended by Chapter 9, 2025 Special Session 1