§ 81. Preferred lists; certification and reinstatement therefrom. 1.
Establishment of preferred lists; general provisions. The head of any
department, office or institution in which an employee is suspended or
demoted in accordance with the provisions of section eighty of this
title shall, upon such suspension or demotion, furnish the state civil
service department or appropriate municipal commission, as the case may
be, a statement showing his name, title or position, date of
appointment, and the date of and reason for suspension or demotion. It
shall be the duty of such civil service department or commission, as the
case may be, forthwith to place the name of such employee upon a
preferred list, together with others who may have been suspended or
demoted from the same or similar positions in the same jurisdictional
class, and to certify such list, as hereinafter provided, for filling
vacancies in the same jurisdictional class; first, in the same or
similar position; second, in any position in a lower grade in line of
promotion; and third, in any comparable position. Such preferred list
shall be certified for filling a vacancy in any such position before
certification is made from any other list, including a promotion
eligible list, notwithstanding the fact that none of the persons on such
preferred list was suspended from or demoted in the department or
suspension and demotion unit in which such vacancy exists. No other name
shall be certified from any other list for any such position until such
preferred list is exhausted. The eligibility for reinstatement of a
person whose name appears on any such preferred list shall not continue
for a period longer than four years from the date of separation or
demotion. An employee whose name was placed on the preferred list and at
the time of such placement was on active duty with the armed forces of
the United States, as pursuant to title ten, fourteen or thirty-two of
the United States code, shall not be eligible for employment
reinstatement for a period longer than four years after the date of
termination of military duty.

2. Order of certification of names from preferred lists. Except as
hereinafter provided, the names of persons on a preferred list shall be
certified therefrom for reinstatement to a vacancy in an appropriate
position in the order of their original appointments.

(a) Upon the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in the
service of a civil division, except in a city having a population of one
million or more, the names of persons on the preferred list shall be
certified to fill such vacancy in the following order: (1) persons
suspended from or demoted in the department or agency within which such
vacancy occurs; and (2) persons suspended from or demoted in other
departments and agencies in such civil division.

(b) Upon the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in the
state service, or in the service of a city having a population of one
million or more, the names of persons on the preferred list shall be
certified to fill such vacancy in the following order: (1) persons
suspended from or demoted in the department in which such vacancy
exists, except that where such vacancy exists in a separate suspension
and demotion unit, the names of persons suspended from or demoted in
such unit, and not those suspended from or demoted in the entire
department, shall be certified first; and (2) all other persons on such
preferred list.

3. Eligibility and order of certification for reinstatement of persons
suspended from or demoted in the service of a county in a city wholly
including within its limits two or more counties. Any person suspended
or demoted from a position in the service of a county in a city wholly
including within its limits two or more counties, where the compensation
of such position is paid directly from the treasury of such city, shall
be eligible for certification and reinstatement from the preferred list
to the same or similar position, or a similar position in a lower grade
in the same occupational field, in the service of any county within such
city. Upon the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in
the service of any such county, the names of persons on the preferred
list shall be certified to fill such vacancy in the following order:
(a) persons suspended from or demoted in the particular county office in
which such vacancy occurs; (b) persons suspended from or demoted in
other county offices in the same county in which such vacancy occurs;
(c) persons suspended from or demoted in county offices in other
counties within such city.

4. Certification of probationers from preferred list. Notwithstanding
the provisions of subdivisions two and three of this section, no person
suspended or demoted prior to the completion of his probationary term
shall be certified for reinstatement until the exhaustion of the
preferred list of all other eligibles thereon. Upon reinstatement, such
probationer shall be required to complete his probationary term.

5. Effect of failure or refusal to accept reinstatement. The state and
municipal civil service commissions shall adopt rules providing for the
relinquishment of eligibility for reinstatement upon failure or refusal
to accept reinstatement from a preferred list.

6. Salary upon reinstatement. A person reinstated from a preferred
list to his former position or a similar position in the same grade
shall receive at least the same salary such person was receiving at the
time of suspension or demotion.

7. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the civil
service department or appropriate municipal commission may disqualify
for reinstatement and remove from a preferred list the name of any
eligible who is physically or mentally disabled for the performance of
the duties of the position for which such list is established, or who
has been guilty of such misconduct as would warrant his dismissal from
the public service, except that a partially physically handicapped
person, who is suspended pursuant to section eighty of this chapter
because of lack of work, but who, within six months of the date of his
suspension, is certified for reinstatement to any job item having the
same physical requirements as the job item from which the person was
suspended shall not be disqualified because of his physical handicap
unless a medical examination discloses that because his handicap has
become greater he would not be able to satisfactorily perform in such
job item. No person shall be disqualified pursuant to this subdivision
unless he is first given a written statement of the reasons therefor and
an opportunity for a hearing at which such reasons shall be established
by appropriate evidence, and at which such person may be represented by
counsel and present evidence. The civil service department or municipal
commission may designate a person to hold such hearing and report
thereon.

8. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, any person
may voluntarily remove his or her name from a preferred list by
application to the civil service department or appropriate municipal
commission.

9. An employee who is eligible to be placed on a preferred list
pursuant to this section and who elects, as a member of a public
employee retirement system, to retire upon a suspension or demotion,
shall be placed on a preferred list and shall be eligible for
reinstatement from such list.