Mass. Gen. Laws » Part I Title IV Chapter 31
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 31, § 31 (2026)

Emergency appointments; renewal

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 31. An appointing authority may, without submitting a requisition to the administrator and without complying with other provisions of the civil service law and rules incident to the normal appointment process, make an emergency appointment to any civil service position other than laborer for a total of not more than thirty working days during a sixty day period. Such appointment shall be made only when the circumstances requiring it could not have been foreseen and when the public business would be seriously impeded by the time lapse incident to the normal appointment process. Upon making such an appointment, the appointing authority shall immediately notify the administrator in writing, in such form and detail as the administrator may require, of the reason for the appointment and the expected duration of the employment thereunder. No renewal of such emergency appointment shall be made without the consent of the administrator.

An emergency appointment may, upon written request of the appointing authority and with the consent of the administrator, be renewed for an additional thirty working days. The administrator shall not consent to more than one such renewal of the appointment unless the position is in a department, institution or hospital carrying out functions connected with the public safety or public health and the public service would suffer if a second renewal were not granted, in which case the administrator may consent to a second renewal. No person shall receive more than one such appointment or one such appointment and renewal, as the case may be, in any twelve month period, except as otherwise provided in this section.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1985–2014 · leading case: City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 481 N.E.2d 1176 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985).
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City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 481 N.E.2d 1176 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985). · cites it 2× “31, § 31, an appointing authority, without submitting a requisition to the administrator and without complying with other provisions of the civil service law, may make an emergency appointment to a civil service position for not more than thirty working days during a sixty-day…”
Bd. of Selectmen v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 641 N.E.2d 714 (Mass. App. Ct. 1994). “Jones directs our attention to G. L. c. 31, §§ 31 and 59. Section 31 imposes a thirty-day limit on emergency appointment to a civil service position.”
City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 955 N.E.2d 924 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011). ““Under G. L. c. 31, § 31, an appointing authority, without submitting a requisition to the administrator and without complying with other provisions of the civil service law, may make an emergency appointment to a civil service position for not more than thirty working days…”
Kelley v. Boston Fire Dep't (Mass. App. Ct. 2014). “The commission found that the city violated G. L. c. 31, § 31, by appointing acting captains on an emergency basis without initially notifying the Division of Human Resources (HRD), and without obtaining the consent of HRD to extend the emergency appointments after the initial…”
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