65 ILCS 5/10-1-7
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 65 - MUNICIPALITIES|65 ILCS 5/ - Illinois Municipal Code.|Article 10 - Employees And Employment

 (from Ch. 24, par. 10-1-7)Sec. 10-1-7. Examination of applicants; disqualifications.(a) All applicants for offices or places in the classified service, except  those mentioned in Section 10-1-17, are subject to examination.  The  examination shall be public, competitive, and open to all citizens of the  United States, with specified limitations as to residence, age, health, habits  and moral character.(b) Residency requirements in effect at the time an individual enters the  fire or police service of a municipality (other than a municipality that  has more than 1,000,000 inhabitants) cannot be made more restrictive  for that individual during his or her period of service for that municipality,  or be made a condition of promotion, except for the rank or position of Fire or  Police Chief.(c) No person with a record of misdemeanor convictions except  those under Sections 11-1.50, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-14, 11-15, 11-17, 11-18, 11-19,  11-30, 11-35, 12-2, 12-6, 12-15, 14-4, 16-1, 21.1-3, 24-3.1, 24-5, 25-1, 28-3, 31-1,  31-4, 31-6, 31-7, 32-1, 32-2, 32-3, 32-4, and 32-8, subdivisions (a)(1) and (a)(2)(C) of Section 11-14.3, and subsections (1), (6) and  (8) of Section 24-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 or arrested for any cause but  not convicted on that cause shall be disqualified from taking the examination  on grounds of habits or moral character, unless the person is attempting to  qualify for a position on the police department, in which case the conviction  or arrest may be considered as a factor in determining the person's habits or  moral character.(d) Persons entitled to military preference under Section 10-1-16  shall not be subject to limitations specifying age unless they are  applicants for a position as a fireman or a policeman having no previous  employment status as a fireman or policeman in the regularly constituted  fire or police department of the municipality, in which case they must not  have attained their 35th birthday, except any person who has served as an  auxiliary police officer under Section 3.1-30-20 for at least 5 years and is  under 40 years of age.(e) All employees of a municipality of less than 500,000 population (except  those who would be excluded from the classified service as provided in this  Division 1) who are holding that employment as of the date a municipality  adopts this Division 1, or as of July 17, 1959, whichever date is the later,  and who have held that employment for at least 2 years immediately before that  later date, and all firemen and policemen regardless of length of service who  were either appointed to their respective positions by the board of fire and  police  commissioners under the provisions of Division 2 of this Article or who  are serving in a position (except as a temporary employee) in the fire or  police department in the municipality on the date a municipality adopts  this Division 1, or as of July 17, 1959, whichever date is the later, shall  become members of the classified civil service of the municipality  without examination.(f) The examinations shall be practical in their character, and shall  relate to those matters that will fairly test the relative capacity of the  persons examined to discharge the duties of the positions to which they  seek to be appointed.  The examinations shall include tests of physical  qualifications, health, and (when appropriate) manual skill.  If an applicant  is unable to pass the physical examination solely as the result of an injury  received by the applicant as the result of the performance of an act of duty  while working as a temporary employee in the position for which he or she is  being examined, however, the physical examination shall be waived and the  applicant shall be considered to have passed the examination. No questions in  any examination shall relate to political or religious opinions or  affiliations. Results of examinations and the eligible registers prepared from  the results shall be published by the commission within 60 days after any  examinations are held.(g) The commission shall control all examinations, and may, whenever an  examination is to take place, designate a suitable number of persons,  either in or not in the official service of the municipality, to be  examiners. The examiners shall conduct the examinations as directed by the  commission and shall make a return or report of the examinations to the  commission. If the appointed examiners are in the official service of the  municipality, the examiners shall not receive extra compensation for conducting  the examinations unless the                       examiners are subject to a collective bargaining agreement withthe municipality. The commission may at any time substitute any other person,  whether or not in the service of the municipality, in the place of any one  selected as an examiner. The commission members may themselves at any time act  as examiners without appointing examiners. The examiners at any examination  shall not all be members of the same political party.(h) In municipalities of 500,000 or more population, no person who has  attained his or her 35th birthday shall be eligible to take an examination for  a position as a fireman or a policeman unless the person has had previous  employment status as a policeman or fireman in the regularly constituted police  or fire department of the municipality, except as provided in this Section.(i) In municipalities of more than 5,000 but not more than 200,000  inhabitants, no person who has attained his or her 35th birthday shall be  eligible to take an examination for a position as a fireman or a policeman  unless the person has had previous employment status as a policeman or fireman  in the regularly constituted police or fire department of the municipality,  except as provided in this Section.(j) In all municipalities, applicants who are 20 years of age and who have  successfully completed 2 years of law enforcement studies at an accredited  college or university may be considered for appointment to active duty with  the police department. An applicant described in this subsection (j) who is  appointed to active duty shall not have power of arrest, nor shall the  applicant be permitted to carry firearms, until he or she reaches 21 years of  age.(k) In municipalities of more than 500,000 population, applications for  examination for and appointment to positions as firefighters or police  shall be made available at various branches of the public library of the  municipality.(l) No municipality having a population less than 1,000,000 shall require  that any fireman appointed to the lowest rank serve a probationary employment  period of longer than one year.  The limitation on periods of probationary  employment provided in this amendatory Act of 1989 is an exclusive power and  function of the State. Pursuant to subsection (h) of Section 6 of Article VII  of the Illinois Constitution, a home rule municipality having a population less  than 1,000,000 must comply with this limitation on periods of probationary  employment, which is a denial and limitation of home rule powers.   Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section, the probationary  employment period limitation may be extended for a firefighter who is required, as a condition of employment, to be a licensed paramedic, during which time the sole reason that a firefighter may be discharged without a hearing is for failing to meet the requirements for paramedic licensure.(m) To the extent that this Section or any other Section in this Division conflicts with Section 10-1-7.1 or 10-1-7.2, then Section 10-1-7.1 or 10-1-7.2 shall control.(Source: P.A. 97-251, eff. 8-4-11; 97-898, eff. 8-6-12; 97-1109, eff. 1-1-13; 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13; 98-973, eff. 8-15-14.)