Sec. 125. 

In addition to all other matters, the board shall by its rules provide for:

(a)  The manner and order, not inconsistent with the provisions hereof, in which persons shall be suspended and restored where such suspension results from lack of work, lack of funds or abolishment of position or otherwise, excepting suspension for personal delinquency, and in all such cases such suspension and restoration shall be based upon seniority as hereinafter provided, or where not so provided, as provided by the rules of the board.  (Added, 1933.)

No assignment of employees to positions within a class, except as hereinafter in this section provided, for which no different examination requirements have been established by the board shall affect the requirements of this section governing suspension and restoration for lack of work, lack of funds or abolishment of position or otherwise, but, in all such cases, all employees within the same class-group, as hereinafter defined, and for which similar examinations are required by the board shall be considered as one class-group for such purposes.  (Added, 1933.)

Whenever suspension other than for personal delinquency is to be made in any class in an office, department or bureau of the City, or major division established in and by a department having control of definite revenues and funds (and hereinafter referred to as a class-group), the person to be suspended shall be selected in the order determined by his length of service in such class and in classes of higher rank since original regular appointment to such class in the classified civil service, after deducting periods of absence from such service as provided by the rules of the board. The person having the shortest length of service in such class and in classes of higher rank shall be suspended first; and any person so suspended shall be entitled to displace the person holding a position in a class-group in which a regular position was formerly held by the person so suspended, who has a shorter length of service in such class-group and in classes of higher rank since original regular appointment to such class in the classified civil service, after deducting periods of absence from the City service as provided by the rules of the board. Any person entitled to displace a person in the manner provided hereinabove may fill instead, with the consent of the appointing authority, a vacant position in the class-group in which he is entitled to displace.  (Amended, 1967.)

The class-group in which suspension is to be made or the class-group in which restoration is to be made, shall include all positions created from such class-group subsequent to the original regular appointment therein of the person so suspended or restored. The determination of the Board of Civil Service Commissioners as to the class-group from which such positions were subsequently created shall be final and conclusive.  (Added, 1933.)

(b)  The establishment in each class in each office, department or bureau of the City or major division established in and by a department having control of definite revenues and funds of a reserve list which shall consist of the names of those persons who have been theretofore regularly appointed to, and have served beyond the probationary period in or have been regularly promoted to a position in such class and have been suspended from their positions since January 1, 1928, for causes other than personal delinquency, whether for lack of funds, lack of work, abolishment of position or otherwise; provided, that any person in the classified civil service who has served therein since January 1, 1928, and was suspended for causes other than for personal delinquency shall be entitled upon his written request therefor to have his name placed upon the reserve list in each such class group in which he was regularly appointed and served beyond the period of probation and from which class he was suspended prior to January 1, 1928. Each person whose name appears on the reserve list, until regularly restored to a position in his class in the office, department, bureau or major division from which he was suspended as hereinbefore provided for in this section, shall be certified for appointment, as in this section provided for, to a position in his class in the office, department, bureau or major division from which he was suspended; provided that after this section takes effect, the name of any person, except as in this section provided for, who has been out of the service of the City for more than five years shall be permanently stricken from the reserve list by the board.  (Added, 1933.)

During suspensions other than for personal delinquency, the name of the person so suspended shall be placed and retained on the reserve list, as in this section provided for, in each class in each office, department, bureau or major division in which such person has served beyond the period of probation and from which he has been suspended for any cause other than personal delinquency.  (Added, 1933.)

Whenever any vacancy is to be filled, it shall be filled in the following order: First, by certifying from such reserve list, if any, in the class and office, department, bureau or major division in which such vacancy exists, the name of the person with greatest length of previous service in such class and all classes of higher rank as hereinbefore provided, or by transfer of a person whose service in such class and classes of higher rank is greater than that of any person on the reserve list of the office, department, bureau or major division where such vacancy is to be filled; secondly, by certifying from the promotional list, if any, as provided for in Section 107 of this article, of the office, department, bureau or major division where such vacancy is to be filled; thirdly, by certifying from the reserve list of other offices, departments, bureaus and major divisions as shall be provided for by the rules of the board; fourthly, by certifying from the appropriate register of eligibles as elsewhere provided for in this article. As to certifications to be made from other than the reserve list of the office, department, bureau or major division in which such vacancy exists, the board may by its rules provide that when the list or register from which certification is to be made does not contain as many names as may be certified for any vacancy or vacancies under the provisions of Section 109 of this Charter, additional names, up to but not exceeding the maximum number therein specified, shall be certified from the list or register next in the order above provided.  (Amended, 1953.)

The board shall have the same power and duty to review as to regularity of procedure all cases of suspension for lack of work, lack of funds or abolishment of position or otherwise, as elsewhere provided in the Charter for removal, discharge, or suspension for cause; but the question of the necessity for such suspension for lack of work, lack of funds or abolishment of position shall not be subject to such review.  (Added, 1933.)

Section 115 of this Charter shall be deemed superseded hereby.  (Amended, 1953.)

Injunction will not lie to restrain the appointment or removal of a public officer, nor an employee of a municipality.

Sharpe v. City of Los Angeles, 136 Cal. App. 732.

Writ of mandate will lie to compel the reinstatement of an employee to a civil service position where the advanced position held by petitioner was abolished and petitioner suspended, and thereafter, upon objection being made, a new position was created for petitioner and then petitioner was suspended for lack of work but two other employees with shorter length of service in that class group were retained.

Ford v. Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles, 4 Cal. App. (2d) 526.

Section 9 of Rule XVIII of the Rules of the Civil Service Commissioners of Los Angeles, which provides that, if an employee has been separated from the service by resignation and is again employed, he shall not receive any seniority credit for his service rendered prior to his separation from the service, is not in conflict with Section 125 of the Los Angeles City Charter, which relates to absence from the service.

In such action there was no merit in the contention that there were two kinds of service, exempt and classified, and that the words “city service” in Section 125 of the Los Angeles City Charter embrace both kinds, and that therefore petitioner lost none of his rights under civil service, even though he was separated therefrom by his resignation to accept a political job as distinguished from a civil service job.

Whitaker v. Department of Water and Power, 4 Cal. App. (2d) 530.

See Shannon v. City of Los Angeles, 205 Cal. 366, for general discussion of this section.

In a mandamus proceeding to compel petitioners’ reinstatement to full-time positions in the Department of Parks of a city upon full pay, where petitioners, who were regularly appointed civil service employees, were demoted by the park authorities to half-time positions at a reduced salary, pursuant to a city ordinance but not in accordance with charter provisions and civil service regulations governing the removal, discharge or suspension of civil service employees, the transfer of petitioners from full-time positions to half-time work, and the filling of the vacated full-time positions with other employees form the civil service list constituted a removal of petitioners from their positions, and such removal could only be accomplished for cause and in conformity with the Charter provisions governing the removal of classified civil service employees.

Lotts v, Board of Park Commrs. of the City of Los Angeles, 13 Cal. App. (2d) 625.

Hours of labor may be reduced, thereby reducing amount of compensation. (Lotts v. Board of Park Commrs., supra, distinguished.)

Weigle v. City and County of San Francisco, 23 Cal. App. (2d) 274.

Section 125(b) construed in Hoyt v. Board of Civil Service Commrs. of the City of Los Angeles, 21 Cal. (2d) 339.