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

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 31, § 71 (2026)

Rosters of positions; filing; use; penalties

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MAmalegislature.gov (official) JustiaChapter on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Section 71. The administrator shall prepare and maintain in his office rosters of all civil service positions in the service of the commonwealth and in the cities and towns, and of all persons who are legally employed, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis, in such positions. Each appointing authority shall be given a copy of such roster for its departmental unit.

The administrator shall file a copy of each such roster with the comptroller for positions in the service of the commonwealth, and shall file copies of such rosters for positions in each city and town with the treasurer or other officer responsible for paying the salary or compensation of persons in the service of such city or town and with the auditor or other officer of such city or town who is responsible for authorizing the drawing, signing or issuing of warrants for such payments.

Whenever a person is employed in or appointed to a civil service position, the administrator shall note on the proper roster or append to such roster a record of such appointment or employment and shall give notice of such appointment or employment to each officer with whom a copy of such roster is required to be filed by this section. Such officer shall make a corresponding note of such appointment or employment on the proper roster or append such a note to such roster.

Each appointing authority, in addition to reporting to the administrator pursuant to section sixty-eight, shall give notice to each officer with whom a copy of a roster is required to be filed by this section of each change in status of an employee in a civil service position where such change occurs because of a suspension, discharge, resignation, or any other separation from the official or labor service. Such officer shall make a note of such change of status on the proper roster or shall append such a note to such roster.

The state treasurer, city or town treasurer, or other disbursing officer of the commonwealth or of a city or town with civil service positions shall not pay any salary or compensation for service rendered in any civil service position whether such payment is made by payroll or bill, or in any other manner, to any person whose name does not appear on the appropriate roster, as amended from time to time, as the person in such position. The comptroller for the commonwealth, and the auditor or other accounting officer of each such city or town, shall not authorize the drawing, signing or issuing of a warrant for such payment until the legality of the employment or appointment of such person is duly established. The state treasurer or other disbursing officer may accept, as evidence of such legality, the certification of the comptroller that the name of such person appears on the appropriate roster where such person is employed in a civil service position in the service of the commonwealth.

Any officer who wilfully violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1985–2015 · leading case: City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 955 N.E.2d 924 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 955 N.E.2d 924 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011). · cites it 6× “The city argues that Article XX, § 7, of the CBA is in violation of G. L. c. 31, § 71, 1 of the civil service law, which *690 prohibits compensation for services rendered in a civil service position to persons whose names do not appear on the appropriate roster for that position.”
City of Somerville v. Somerville Mun. Employees Ass'n, 481 N.E.2d 1176 (Mass. App. Ct. 1985). “Based upon these reports, G. L. c. 31, § 71, requires the administrator to prepare rosters of all civil service positions, and of all persons who are legally employed in such positions, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis.”
City of Springfield v. Local Union No. 648, Int'l Ass'n of Firefighters, AFL-CIO, 35 N.E.3d 751 (Mass. App. Ct. 2015). “Based upon these reports, G. L. c. 31, § 71, requires the administrator to prepare rosters of all civil service positions, and of all persons who are legally employed in such positions, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.