PART I

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

§76-1 Purpose of this chapter; statement of policy. It is the purpose of this chapter to establish in the State and each of the counties a system of personnel administration based on merit principles and scientific methods governing the classification of positions and the employment, conduct, movement, and separation of public officers and employees. It is also the purpose of this chapter to build a career service in government which will attract, select, and retain the best of our citizens on merit, free from coercive political influences, with incentives in the form of genuine opportunities for promotions in the service, which will eliminate unnecessary and inefficient employees, and which will provide technically competent and loyal personnel to render impartial service to the public at all times, and to render that service according to the dictates of ethics and morality. In order to achieve these purposes it is the declared policy of the State that the personnel system hereby established be applied and administered in accordance with the following merit principles:

(1) Equal opportunity for all regardless of race, sex, age, religion, color, ancestry, or politics. No person shall be discriminated against in any case because of any disability, in examination, appointment, reinstatement, reemployment, promotion, transfer, demotion, or removal, with respect to any position the duties of which, in the opinion of the director of human resources development may be efficiently performed by a person with such a disability; provided that the employment will not be hazardous to the appointee or endanger the health or safety of the appointee's co-workers or others;

(2) Impartial selection of the ablest person for government service by means of competitive tests which are fair, objective, and practical;

(3) Just opportunity for competent employees to be promoted within the service;

(4) Reasonable job security for the competent employee, including the right of appeal from personnel actions;

(5) Systematic classification of all positions through adequate job evaluation; and

(6) Proper balance in employer-employee relations between the people as the employer and employees as the individual citizens, to achieve a well trained, productive, and happy working force. [L 1955, c 274, pt of §1; RL 1955, §3-1; am L 1963, c 14, §1; HRS §76-1; am L 1973, c 177, §1(1); am L 1984, c 101, §1; am L 1992, c 33, §5; am L 1994, c 56, §4]