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

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 31, § 48 (2026)

Civil service offices and positions; exemptions

✓ current as of July 2026
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Section 48. All offices and positions in the official service of the commonwealth shall be subject to the civil service law and rules unless expressly exempted by this chapter or other law. Positions in the labor service of the commonwealth shall be subject to the civil service law and rules in the metropolitan district commission; executive office for administration and finance; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater; Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Framingham; labor service employees in the Massachusetts Correctional Institutions at Cedar Junction, Concord and Norfolk who have prisoners under their charge; department of telecommunications and energy; highway division in the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, except as provided in this section; department of revenue; division of employment and training; laborers in the office of public safety and inspections of the division of occupational licensure; laborers in the department of fire services; labor service employees in the division of conservation services and full-time conservation helpers employed on a year-round basis, and conservation skilled helpers in the department of environmental management; tree climbers employed by the department of environmental management; registry of motor vehicles; Massachusetts emergency management agency; Massachusetts office of business development, the Massachusetts trade office, the office of minority and women business development and employment, the office of science and technology, the office of travel and tourism, the office of film and video development; executive office of housing and livable communities; department of public welfare; Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority police department; department of youth services.

Offices and positions in the service of cities and towns shall be subject to the civil service law and rules as provided by sections fifty-one, fifty-two, and fifty-three.

The following shall be exempt from the civil service law and rules, unless expressly made subject thereto by statute:

City and town managers and assistant city or town managers, and administrative assistants, secretaries, stenographers, clerks, telephone operators and messengers connected with the offices of city councils, town councils, mayors, city managers, town managers and select boards.

Clerical employees in the registries of probate of all counties.

Confidential secretaries and administrative assistants in municipal light commissions.

Counsels, attorneys-at-law, including attorneys designated as counsel or counsellors-at-law, city solicitors, assistant city solicitors, town counsels and assistant town counsels.

Directors of divisions authorized by law in the departments of the commonwealth.

Election officials, including registrars of voters.

Employees of the treasurer and collector of taxes in any city or town.

Executive directors of councils on aging.

Heads of departments, members of boards and commissions, chaplains employed as such, members of authorities and other officers appointed by the governor or whose appointment is subject to approval by the governor, and heads of municipal departments.

Industrial relations adjusters within the board of conciliation and arbitration in the department of labor and workforce development.

Judges and officers and employees of the judicial branch.

Laborers and chauffeurs employed in the state department of public works between October thirty-first and April fifteenth for the removal of snow from and the sanding of the highways and airports of the commonwealth and work incidental thereto, provided that such employment in each case does not exceed a total of ninety days within that period and that regular employees are not available to perform such work; and such temporary employees in such department as required during and following a disaster or period of extreme danger when and as authorized by the governor, but not to exceed ninety days. Preference shall be given to veterans in making appointments and employing persons under the provisions of this paragraph.

Legislative counsel in cities or towns.

Legislators and officers and employees of the legislative branch.

Officers elected by popular vote and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective positions.

Officers, noncommissioned officers and enlisted persons in the military or naval services of the state.

Officers, secretaries and employees of the office of the governor and executive council, lieutenant governor, state secretary, state treasurer, state auditor, and attorney general, and employees of the commissioner of banks.

Officers whose appointment or election is by a city council, town council or subject to its confirmation.

Parking meter supervisors, except as provided in sections fifty-one and fifty-two.

Part-time municipal employees serving in the positions of electrical inspectors, wiring inspectors, plumbing inspectors, gas inspectors, sealer of weights and measures and assistant sealer of weights and measures.

Physicians, registered nurses, graduate nurses, licensed practical nurses and student nurses in institutions and hospitals unless federal standards for a merit system of personnel administration apply.

Police and fire commissioners and chief marshals or chiefs of police and of fire departments, except as provided in sections fifty-one and fifty-two.

Professional librarians and subprofessional librarians whose duties require that they have certificates issued by the board of library commissioners, and pages employed in libraries on a part-time or intermittent basis.

Public school ice skating rink managers.

Public school teachers and administrators whose duties require the possession of a teacher's certificate.

Regional directors in the department of children and families.

Seasonal positions.

Shellfish constables or deputy shellfish constables.

Student interns employed by municipal police departments while attending degree granting institutions of higher learning, and one staff assistant employed by each department for each one hundred thousand residents or portion thereof, not to exceed five.

Students who are employed part-time in a school department or educational institution which they are attending; and student interns assigned to any agency under an agreement authorized by law with an educational institution or foundation.

Superintendents and assistant superintendents of charitable institutions unless federal standards for a merit system of personnel administration apply.

Teachers in the department of correction whose duties require the possession of a teacher's certificate.

Traffic supervisors or employees not members of the regular police force who are doing intermittent work protecting school children going to and from schools.

Two employees of the city clerk of any city and two employees of the town clerk of any town.

Such other officers and employees as are by law exempt from the civil service law and rules.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1925–2024 · leading case: Jeneski v. City of Worcester, 476 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2007).
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Jeneski v. City of Worcester, 476 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2007). “Although a city may exempt city managers and their staffs from ordinary civil service protections, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 31, § 48 , Jeneski says that Worcester did not meet the required statutory conditions and that in Worcester the city manager label was falsely assigned to some…”
Andrews v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 846 N.E.2d 1126 (Mass. 2006). “See also G. L. c. 31, § 48. The special investigators occupied three positions: Special Investigator A/B (SI-A/B), Special Investigator C (SI-C), and Special Investigator D (SI-D).”
O'CONNOR v. City Manager of Medford, 389 N.E.2d 440 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979). “Appointments to policy-making positions are not required to be made from the civil service lists (see G. L. c. 31, § 48, as appearing in St. 1978, c.”
Moloney v. Selectmen of Milford, 149 N.E. 317 (Mass. 1925). · cites it 2× “force” and a chief of police within the terms of the civil service law, G. L. c. 31, §§ 48, 49. It was such a police force as the town might organize and support under G.”
Mayor of New Bedford v. City Council, 13 Mass. App. Ct. 251 (Mass. App. Ct. 1982). · cites it 3× “31, § 48, exempts from civil service “administrative assistants, secretaries, stenographers, clerks, telephone operators and messengers connected with the offices of city councils, mayors, city managers, town managers and selectmen” 5 (emphasis supplied). We see no policy reason…”
Jones v. Town of Wayland, 358 N.E.2d 822 (Mass. App. Ct. 1976). “…c. 32, § 89; c. 41, §§ 96B, 108E, 108G, 108K, 108L, 111A, 111D and 111L; c. 147, §§ 17B, 17C and 17G), “permanent” (G. L. c. 31, § 48; c. 32, §§ 83, 83A[6], 85, 85A, 85B, 85E and 89; c. 41, § 96B; c. 147, §§ 17B and 17G), “full time” (G. L. c. 41, §§ 96B, 98D and 108L),…”
Mulrain v. Bd. of Selectmen, 430 N.E.2d 831 (Mass. App. Ct. 1982). · cites it 2× “” On March 3, 1969, the town accepted the provisions of G. L. c. 31, § 48, as amended by St. 1967, c.”
Canavan v. Civil Serv. Comm'n, 802 N.E.2d 126 (Mass. App. Ct. 2004). · cites it 2× “Indeed, in light of G. L. c. 31, §§ 48 and 51, 6 and in the absence of any law to the contrary, it appears as matter of law that St.”
Ossinger v. City of Newton, 533 N.E.2d 228 (Mass. App. Ct. 1989). “43, § 25, G. L. c. 31, § 48, and § 11-2 of the Newton charter, 2 was at will (non-civil service).”
Pilch v. Town of Ware, 397 N.E.2d 1123 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979). “19, § 37, which provided that the police forces of towns accepting that provision would be subject to the civil service law which evolved into G. L. c. 31, § 48, and to which the Ware police were subject at all times material to this dispute.”
Thomas v. Ralph v. Civil Serv. Comm'n & Another., 100 Mass. App. Ct. 199 (Mass. App. Ct. 2021). “41, §§ 111A, 111D, 111L (discussing vacation time for members of regular police force).”
McDonough v. Plymouth Cnty. Pers. Bd., 786 N.E.2d 853 (Mass. App. Ct. 2003). “Moreover, the Legislature’s extensive list of exclusions from the civil service laws, see G. L. c. 31, § 48, shows its ability to make exclusions from tenure provisions when it desires to do so.”
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