§ 309 — Duties of Commissioner of Human Resources

(a) The Commissioner, as administrative head of the Department, shall direct and supervise all its administrative and technical activities. In addition to the duties imposed elsewhere in this chapter, it shall be the Commissioner’s duty:
(1) To apply and carry out this chapter and the rules adopted in accordance with this chapter.
(2) To establish and maintain a roster of all classified employees in the State civil service, in which there shall be set forth, as to each employee, the class title, pay or status and other pertinent data.
(3) To foster and develop, in cooperation with the appointing authorities, programs for the improvement of employee effectiveness, including orientation, training, safety, health, counseling, and welfare.
(4) To encourage and aid in the development of effective personnel administration within the several departments in the State service, and to make available the facilities of the Department of Human Resources to this end.
(5) To investigate from time to time the operation and effect of this chapter and of the rules adopted in accordance with this chapter and to report the Commissioner’s findings to the Secretary of Administration and to the Governor.
(6) To make such reports regarding the work of the Department of Human Resources as the Commissioner may consider desirable and as may be required of the Commissioner to the Secretary of Administration and to the Governor.
(7) To maintain a continuous study of the status and availability of temporary employees, to receive and maintain adequate records and reports as to those employees, and cooperate with the State employment service in establishing lists of persons available for temporary employment.
(8) To establish a standard reporting form on contractual employees and to receive and maintain records indicating their status.
(9) To establish an employee census report providing for the systematic and regular accounting of all persons employed by the State in all categories of employment.
(10) To maintain registers of persons eligible for employment and to verify the availability of those persons certified to an appointing authority.
(11) To cooperate with all State agencies in initiating and maintaining a trainee-internship program, a recruitment program for clerical, administrative, and professional positions, which shall include visits to Vermont high schools, colleges, and universities.
(12) To design and make available to all State agencies service rating forms.
(13) To compile and publish a manual, which shall be kept current, containing the pertinent statutes and rules of the Department of Human Resources and its rules of procedure and forms prescribed for use by rule.
(14) To perform any other lawful act that may be necessary and proper to carry out the purposes and provisions of this chapter.
(15) With the approval of the Governor, the Commissioner may appoint and employ a general legal counsel, to be exempt from the classified service, and who shall report directly to the Commissioner of Human Resources.
(16)-(18) [Repealed.]
(19) Annually on or before January 15, the Commissioner of Human Resources shall submit to the General Assembly a report on the status of the State employee workforce. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this subsection. All reporting on numbers of State employees shall include numbers stated in “full-time equivalent” positions. The report shall consolidate reports mandated by the General Assembly, as well as other information regarding developments in State employment, including:
(A) use of temporary employees;
(B) use of limited service positions;
(C) vacancies of more than six months’ duration;
(D) use of emergency volunteer leave under section 265 of this title;
(E) development of compensation plans;
(F) developments in equal employment opportunity;
(G) use of the position management system;
(H) abolished or transferred classified and exempt State positions.
(20) To maintain a central payroll office, personnel earnings records, and records on authorized deductions.
(21) To certify, by voucher, to the Commissioner of Finance and Management all necessary and appropriate disbursements associated with the payroll function.
(b) The Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary of Administration, may from time to time designate in writing an employee of the Department of Human Resources to act for him or her in case of his or her absence or temporary inability from any cause to discharge the powers and duties of the Commissioner’s office. In that case, the powers and duties of the Commissioner shall devolve upon his or her representative.
(c) The Commissioner may designate appropriate persons, including officers and employees in State service, to assist in the preparation and rating of tests. An appointing authority may excuse any employee in the division or department from regular duties for the time required for work as an examiner. Such officers and employees shall not be entitled to extra pay for their services as examiners but shall be entitled to reimbursement for necessary travel and other expenses. (Amended 1959, No. 331 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Feb. 9, 1960; 1961, No. 177, § 3; 1971, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 16; 1981, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 23, eff. July 4, 1982; 1993, No. 210 (Adj. Sess.), § 12; 1995, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 6, 1996; 1997, No. 28, § 11, eff. May 15, 1997; 1999, No. 145 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2001, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 302b; 2003, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2007, No. 7, § 8; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 2015, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § E.108.3, eff. June 8, 2016; 2025, No. 18, § 9, eff. May 13, 2025.)