California State Personnel Board

The California State Personnel Board (SPB) is one of the California agencies responsible for administration of the merit-based civil service employment system for California state agencies, the other being the California Department of Personnel Administration. The board administers selections for state job openings and civil service exams. The SPB's authority to enforce the civil service statutes is set forth in Article VII, section 3 of the California Constitution.[1] Staff positions in the Supreme Court of California, the California Courts of Appeal, the California Legislature, the University of California, and the California State University are not administered by the board.[2]

Some have questioned decisions made by the Board, citing cases like the Board's order to rehire a nurse's aide who removed money from an elderly man's drawer in a police sting prompted by thousands of dollars in thefts from the veteran's home in which she worked, as well as favorable decisions in the cases of doctors who peers considered unsafe around patients, and a psychiatric technician who hit a patient with his shoes.[3]