(1) The classified service to which KRS § 18A.005 to KRS § 18A.200 shall apply shall comprise all positions in the state service now existing or hereafter established, except the following:
(a) The General Assembly and employees of the General Assembly, including the employees of the Legislative Research Commission;

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 18A.115

  • Board: means the Personnel Board created by KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • branch budget: means an enactment by the General Assembly which provides appropriations and establishes fiscal policies and conditions for the biennial financial plan for the judicial branch, the legislative branch, and the executive branch, which shall include a separate budget bill for the Transportation Cabinet. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Cabinet: means the Personnel Cabinet provided for in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Class: means a group of positions sufficiently similar as to duties performed, scope of discretion and responsibility, minimum requirements of training, experience, or skill, and such other characteristics that the same title, the same tests of fitness, and the same schedule of compensation have been or may be applied to each position in the group. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Classified service: includes all the employment subject to the terms of this chapter except for those positions expressly cited in KRS §. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Directors: when applied to corporations, includes managers or trustees. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Employee: means a person regularly appointed to a position in the state service for which he or she is compensated on a full-time, part-time, or interim basis. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Federal: refers to the United States. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Position: means an office or employment in an agency (whether part-time, full- time, or interim, occupied, or vacant) involving duties requiring the services of one (1) person. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Reemployment: shall mean the rehiring of an employee with status who has been laid off. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Secretary: means the secretary of the Personnel Cabinet as provided for in KRS
    18A. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Transfer: means a movement of any employee from one (1) position to another of the same grade having the same salary ranges, the same level of responsibility within the classified service, and the same salary received immediately prior to transfer. See Kentucky Statutes 18A.005
  • Year: means calendar year. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(b) Officers elected by popular vote and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;
(c) Members of boards and commissions;
(d) Officers and employees on the staff of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Office of the Secretary of the Governor’s Cabinet, and the Office of Program Administration;
(e) Cabinet secretaries, commissioners, office heads, and the administrative heads of all boards and commissions, including the executive director of Kentucky Educational Television;
(f) Employees of Kentucky Educational Television who have been determined to be exempt from classified service by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, which shall have sole authority over such exempt employees for employment, dismissal, and setting of compensation, up to the maximum established for the executive director and his principal assistants;
(g) One (1) principal assistant or deputy for each person exempted under subsection (1)(e) of this section;
(h) One (1) additional principal assistant or deputy as may be necessary for making and carrying out policy for each person exempted under subsection (1)(e) of this section in those instances in which the nature of the functions, size, or complexity of the unit involved are such that the secretary approves such an addition on petition of the relevant cabinet secretary or department head and such other principal assistants, deputies, or other major assistants as may be necessary for making and carrying out policy for each person exempted under subsection (1)(e) of this section in those instances in which the nature of the functions, size, or complexity of the unit involved are such that the board may approve such an addition or additions on petition of the department head approved by the secretary. Effective August 1, 2010:
1. All positions approved under this paragraph prior to August 1, 2010, shall be abolished effective December 31, 2010, unless reapproved under subparagraph 2. of this paragraph; and
2. A position approved under this paragraph on or after August 1, 2010, shall be approved for a period of five (5) years, after which time the position shall be abolished unless reapproved under this subparagraph
for an additional five (5) year period;
(i) Division directors subject to the provisions of KRS § 18A.170. Division directors in the classified service as of January 1, 1980, shall remain in the classified service;
(j) Physicians employed as such;
(k) One (1) private secretary for each person exempted under subsection (1)(e), (g), and (h) of this section;
(l) The judicial department, referees, receivers, jurors, and notaries public;
(m) Officers and members of the staffs of state universities and colleges and student employees of such institutions; officers and employees of the Teachers’ Retirement System; and officers, teachers, and employees of local boards of education;
(n) Patients or inmates employed in state institutions;
(o) Persons employed in a professional or scientific capacity to make or conduct a temporary or special inquiry, investigation, or examination on behalf of the General Assembly, or a committee thereof, or by authority of the Governor, and persons employed by state agencies for a specified, limited period to provide professional, technical, scientific, or artistic services under the provisions of KRS § 45A.690 to KRS § 45A.725;
(p) Interim employees;
(q) Officers and members of the state militia;
(r) Department of Kentucky State Police troopers;
(s) University or college engineering students or other students employed part- time or part-year by the state through special personnel recruitment programs; provided that while so employed such aides shall be under contract to work full-time for the state after graduation for a period of time approved by the commissioner or shall be participants in a cooperative education program approved by the commissioner;
(t) Superintendents of state mental institutions, including heads of centers for individuals with an intellectual disability, and penal and correctional institutions as referred to in KRS § 196.180(2);
(u) Staff members of the Kentucky Historical Society, if they are hired in accordance with KRS § 171.311;
(v) County and Commonwealth’s attorneys and their respective appointees; (w) Chief district engineers and the state highway engineer;
(x) Veterinarians employed as such by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission; (y) Employees of the Kentucky Peace Corps;
(z) Employees of the Council on Postsecondary Education;
(aa) Executive director of the Commonwealth Office of Technology; (ab) Employees of Serve Kentucky;
(ac) Persons employed in certified teaching positions at the Kentucky School for the Blind and the Kentucky School for the Deaf;
(ad) Federally funded time-limited employees as defined in KRS § 18A.005; and
(ae) Employees of the Department of Agriculture who are employed to support the Agricultural Development Board and the Kentucky Agricultural Finance Corporation.
(2) Nothing in KRS § 18A.005 to KRS § 18A.200 is intended, or shall be construed, to alter or amend the provisions of KRS § 150.022 and KRS § 150.061.
(3) Nothing in KRS § 18A.005 to KRS § 18A.200 is intended or shall be construed to affect any nonmanagement, nonpolicy-making position which must be included in the classified service as a prerequisite to the grant of federal funds to a state agency.
(4) Career employees within the classified service promoted to positions exempted from classified service shall, upon termination of their employment in the exempted service, revert to a position in that class in the agency from which they were terminated if a vacancy in that class exists. If no such vacancy exists, they shall be considered for employment in any vacant position for which they were qualified pursuant to KRS § 18A.130 and KRS § 18A.135.
(5) Nothing in KRS § 18A.005 to KRS § 18A.200 shall be construed as precluding appointing officers from filling unclassified positions in the manner in which positions in the classified service are filled except as otherwise provided in KRS § 18A.005 to
18A.200.
(6) The positions of employees who are transferred, effective July 1, 1998, from the Cabinet for Workforce Development to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System shall be abolished and the employees’ names removed from the roster of state employees. Employees that are transferred, effective July 1, 1998, to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System under KRS Chapter 164 shall have the same benefits and rights as they had under KRS Chapter 18A and have under KRS § 164.5805; however, they shall have no guaranteed reemployment rights in the KRS Chapter 151B or KRS Chapter 18A personnel systems. An employee who seeks reemployment in a state position under KRS Chapter 151B or KRS Chapter 18A shall have years of service in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System counted towards years of experience for calculating benefits and compensation.
(7) On August 15, 2000, all certified and equivalent personnel, all unclassified personnel, and all certified and equivalent and unclassified vacant positions in the Department for Adult Education and Literacy shall be transferred from the personnel system under KRS Chapter 151B to the personnel system under KRS Chapter 18A. The positions shall be deleted from the KRS Chapter 151B personnel system. All records shall be transferred including accumulated annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time, and service credit for each affected employee. The personnel officers who administer the personnel systems under KRS Chapter 151B and KRS Chapter 18A shall exercise the necessary administrative procedures to effect the change in personnel authority. No certified or equivalent employee in the Department for Adult Education and Literacy shall suffer any penalty in the transfer.
(8) On August 15, 2000, secretaries and assistants attached to policymaking positions in the Department for Technical Education and the Department for Adult Education
and Literacy shall be transferred from the personnel system under KRS Chapter
151B to the personnel system under KRS Chapter 18A. The positions shall be deleted from the KRS Chapter 151B system. All records shall be transferred including accumulated annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time, and service credit for each affected employee. No employee shall suffer any penalty in the transfer.
(9) On May 1, 2017, all contract employees of Eastern Kentucky University who are engaged in providing instructional and support services to the Department of Criminal Justice Training shall be transferred to the personnel system under KRS Chapter 18A. All records shall be transferred, including accumulated annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time, and service credit for each affected employee. The personnel officers who administer the personnel systems for Eastern Kentucky University and under KRS Chapter 18A shall exercise the necessary administrative procedures to effect the change in personnel authority. No employee shall suffer any penalty in the transfer.
Effective: June 29, 2021
History: Amended 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 12, sec. 4, effective March 12, 2021; and ch. 26, sec. 2, effective June 29, 2021. — Amended 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 114, sec. 2, effective July 14, 2018. — Amended 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 58, sec. 3, effective March 21, 2017. — Amended 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 146, sec. 5, effective July 12, 2012. — Amended 2010
Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 25, effective July 15, 2010; and ch. 153, sec. 10, effective April
13, 2010. — Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 105, effective June 26, 2007. — Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. — Amended 2005
Ky. Acts ch. 85, sec. 43, effective June 20, 2005. — Amended 2004 Ky. Acts ch. 127, sec. 3, effective July 13, 2004; and ch. 191, sec. 51, effective July 13, 2004. — Amended 2001 Ky. Acts ch. 137, sec. 4, effective June 21, 2001. — Amended 2000
Ky. Acts ch. 203, sec. 6, effective July 14, 2000; and ch. 526, sec. 16, effective July
14, 2000. — Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 540, sec. 4, effective July 15, 1998; and ch.
353, sec. 7, effective July 15, 1998. — Amended 1997 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch.
1, sec. 31, effective May 30, 1997. — Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 100, sec. 11, effective July 14, 1992. — Amended 1990 Ky. Acts ch 159, sec. 1, effective March
30, 1990; and ch. 496, sec. 25, effective July 13, 1990. — Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 494, sec. 18, effective July 15, 1986. — Amended 1984 Ky. Acts ch. 253, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1984; and ch. 350, sec. 10, effective July 13, 1984. — Repealed, reenacted, and amended as KRS § 18A.115, 1982 Ky. Acts ch. 448, sec. 23, effective July 15, 1982. — Amended 1980 Ky. Acts ch. 98, sec. 3, effective July 15, 1980; and ch. 132, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1980. — Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 155, sec. 18, effective June 17, 1978; and ch. 391, sec. 1, effective June 17, 1978. — Amended
1976 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 17, sec. 18, effective January 1, 1978. — Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 74, Art. VI, sec. 32; ch. 162, sec. 3; and ch. 308, sec. 7.
— Amended 1972 Ky. Acts ch. 13, sec. 2. — Amended 1970 Ky. Acts ch. 278, sec. 1.
— Created 1960 Ky. Acts ch. 63, sec. 4.
Formerly codified as KRS § 18.140.
2022-2024 Budget Reference. See State/Executive Branch Budget, 2022 Ky. Acts ch.
199, Pt. I, C, 2, (1) at 1658.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/29/2021). This statute was amended by 2021
Ky. Acts chs. 12 and 26, which do not appear to be in conflict and have been codified together.