Chapter 143: Texas Civil Service for Police and Firefighters

Chapter 143 of the Texas Local Government Code is the state civil service law for municipal firefighters and police officers. It replaces political patronage with merit-based hiring, written promotional exams, defined disciplinary grounds, and a formal appeal process, and it applies in Texas cities of at least 10,000 residents that operate a paid fire or police department and whose voters have adopted the chapter.¹ For covered officers and firefighters, it governs almost every employment decision from the first day on an eligibility list through separation.

Which Departments Chapter 143 Covers

A city falls under Chapter 143 only if three things are true: it has a population of 10,000 or more (measured by the latest federal census or the state demographer’s estimate, whichever is newer), it operates a paid fire or police department, and its voters have approved adoption at a local election.¹ Adoption can be limited to one department, so a city may have civil service for its firefighters but not its police, or vice versa.² Once validly adopted, the chapter keeps applying even if the city later dips below 10,000 residents.

Every covered city must establish a Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service Commission. Three commissioners, appointed by the mayor or chief executive and confirmed by the governing body, hear appeals, certify exam results, and adopt the rules that fill in the statutory framework.³ The commission is the referee between the department head’s authority and the employee’s civil service protections.

How Entry-Level Hiring Works

Every beginning position must be filled from an eligibility list produced by a competitive entrance examination. The exam is open to the public, free of charge, and tests general knowledge, aptitude, education, and mental ability rather than specialized skills. The minimum passing score is 70 percent.⁴

Passing candidates are ranked by score. When a vacancy opens, the department head picks from the top three names on the list. That “rule of three” gives the chief limited discretion while keeping hiring anchored to test performance.⁵

Medical and psychological evaluations follow a conditional job offer. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a department cannot require a medical examination until after that offer has been extended. Pre-offer physical fitness tests measuring running, lifting, or similar performance tasks are allowed, but anything that probes medical conditions must wait.⁶

Age limits are a special case. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act generally bars age-based hiring rules, but it carves out an exception for firefighters and law enforcement officers. State and local governments can set maximum hiring ages and mandatory retirement ages for public safety positions, provided the policy follows a bona fide plan and is not a pretext for discrimination.⁷ Local collective bargaining agreements can modify the default caps, so the specific number varies from city to city.

How Promotions Work

Advancement runs on written exams, not supervisor preference. Promotional examinations must be entirely in writing, with no oral interview component, and the questions must come from the duties of the higher position and from study materials the department has made reasonably available to all eligible candidates.⁸

Eligibility usually requires at least two continuous years in the rank immediately below the vacancy. If there aren’t enough candidates who meet that standard, the commission can open the exam to officers with less time in grade or to those two ranks below.⁹ Seniority points are added to the raw exam score, and the ranked list drives promotions as vacancies open.

If you think a question was flawed or your score was miscalculated, you can challenge the results through a review process the commission administers, within the window the statute provides.¹⁰

What Counts as Cause for Discipline

A department head cannot suspend or fire a civil service employee for any reason that comes to mind. Commission rules must limit grounds for removal or suspension to specific categories set by the statute:

Conviction of a felony or another crime involving moral turpitude
Incompetency, neglect of duty, shirking duty, or cowardice at fires
Discourtesy to the public or coworkers while on duty, conduct prejudicial to good order, or a lack of good moral character
Drinking while on duty or intoxication while off duty
Absence without leave, refusal to pay just debts, violation of a charter provision, or violation of a departmental rule or special order

If the proposed basis for discipline does not match one of these categories, the commission rule authorizing it is invalid.¹¹ Vague “performance” grounds that don’t map onto a statutory category are a common weak point in disciplinary actions.

How Suspensions and Terminations Work

A department head can impose a suspension of up to 15 calendar days or an indefinite suspension. Indefinite suspension is the statute’s term for termination; the employee is fired from the department.¹²

Within 120 hours of the suspension, the department head must file a written statement with the commission and deliver a copy to the employee in person. The statement has to identify the specific civil service rules allegedly violated and describe the actual conduct at issue. Simply citing a rule number is not enough. If the statement fails to spell out what the employee actually did, the commission must promptly reinstate the employee.¹²

The 180-Day Limitation

Chapter 143 imposes a 180-day lookback that runs differently depending on the type of misconduct. For non-criminal violations, the suspension cannot be based on any act that occurred more than 180 days before the suspension date. For conduct related to a criminal offense, the 180-day clock runs from the date the department head discovered the act, and the department head must specifically allege the criminal connection to use the longer window.¹² Missing the deadline is a hard cutoff. The department loses the ability to discipline the employee for that incident.

Voluntary Extended Suspension

As an alternative to indefinite suspension, the department head can offer a suspension of 16 to 90 calendar days. If the employee accepts within five working days, the matter closes with no right of appeal. If the employee declines, the standard appeal process applies, but the appeal deadline extends to 15 days rather than the usual 10.¹²

How to Appeal a Suspension

An employee has 10 days from receiving the written statement to file a written appeal, and the statement itself must inform them of that right.¹² At the appeal stage, the employee picks between two forums: the civil service commission or an independent third-party hearing examiner. That choice shapes everything that follows.

Commission Hearing

The commission must hold a hearing and issue a written decision within 30 days. The department head is locked into the original written statement and charges, with no amendments allowed. After hearing evidence, the commission votes in open session and must choose one of three outcomes: permanent dismissal, a temporary suspension of a specific length, or full restoration to the employee’s former position.¹³

If the commission reduces or overturns the suspension, the employee gets full back pay at their regular rate for all time lost, plus restoration of sick leave, vacation, and retirement service credit.¹³ A suspension or dismissal can only be sustained for a civil service rule violation, and only after the specific charges are found true.

Hearing Examiner

The employee can elect an independent hearing examiner instead. The examiner’s decision is final and binding, and the employee waives the right to appeal to district court. That election has to be made in writing as part of the original notice of appeal.¹⁴ Some employees prefer the hearing examiner because the process feels more neutral than a commission appointed by the executive who runs the department, but surrendering judicial review is a real cost.

Rights During Internal Investigations

Two federal constitutional protections sit on top of Chapter 143’s Texas-specific procedural rights.

Under Garrity v. New Jersey, a public employee who is compelled to answer questions during an internal investigation under threat of termination for refusal cannot have those compelled statements used against them in a criminal prosecution. The department can still require answers for administrative purposes, but the answers carry immunity from criminal use.¹⁵ Departments typically issue a formal warning before investigatory questioning so the record is clear that the statement was compelled.

Under Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, a public employee with a property interest in continued employment (which includes any tenured or civil service position) is entitled to due process before termination. The minimum requirements are notice of the charges, an explanation of the evidence, and an opportunity to respond before a final decision.¹⁶ Chapter 143’s written-statement and appeal procedures generally satisfy those requirements, but a department that skips steps risks a federal due process violation on top of the state civil service issue.

Personnel Files

Chapter 143 requires two separate personnel files for each covered employee, and the rules about what belongs in each are strict.

The commission’s director maintains the official civil service file, sometimes called the Section A file. It must contain commendations, periodic supervisor evaluations, and documentation of misconduct that resulted in formal disciplinary action under the chapter. Records of alleged misconduct cannot go into this file if the department found insufficient evidence to support the charge, and if the commission later finds a disciplinary action lacked just cause, the related records must be removed.¹⁷

When anything negative is added, the director must notify the employee within 30 days. The employee then has 15 days from that notice to file a written response, which becomes part of the file. Employees can request copies of anything in the file, though the city can charge a reasonable fee. The director cannot release information from this file to anyone without the employee’s written permission unless disclosure is otherwise required by law.¹⁷

The department can also keep its own internal file, sometimes called the Section B file. It cannot release any information from that file to outside agencies or individuals. Anyone requesting personnel information must be referred to the commission’s director and the official civil service file.¹⁸ The two-file system keeps unsubstantiated complaints and internal investigation notes from following an officer or firefighter into public view.

Leave, Pay, and Retirement

Sick Leave

Firefighters and police officers under Chapter 143 accrue sick leave at 1.25 working days per month, or 15 days per year, and it accumulates without limit. If an employee exhausts all sick leave and can prove the illness was incurred in the line of duty, the department must grant an extension. When an employee leaves the classified service for any reason, they are entitled to a lump-sum payout for accumulated sick leave, though the city can cap the payout at the equivalent of 90 working days.¹⁹

Assignment Pay

Cities can authorize extra pay for specialized functions like hazardous materials response or detective work. Assignment pay is set by ordinance and stacks on top of the regular salary. The department head is not eligible.²⁰

Compensatory Time

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, public safety employees can accrue up to 480 hours of compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay. Once the ceiling is hit, additional overtime must be paid in cash. A city can set a lower cap by policy, but it cannot exceed the federal maximum.²¹

Military Leave

The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requires the city to reemploy someone returning from military duty in the position they would have held had they never left, provided cumulative military service does not exceed five years. Exceptions include initial obligated service, involuntary retention during national emergencies, and required annual training for reservists and National Guard members.²² The employee must give advance notice unless military necessity makes that impossible.

Social Security

Many Texas firefighters and police officers participate in municipal pension systems rather than Social Security. For decades, the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset reduced or eliminated Social Security benefits for public employees drawing pensions from work not covered by Social Security. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, eliminated both provisions. The changes apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later, and the Social Security Administration began adjusting payments in early 2025 for those affected.²³ For Texas public safety employees who have enough quarters of Social Security-covered employment to qualify, benefits are no longer reduced because of a municipal pension.

How Collective Bargaining Fits In

Many cities that operate under Chapter 143 also negotiate collective bargaining agreements with their fire and police unions under Chapter 174 of the Local Government Code. When the two conflict, the collective bargaining agreement wins. A ratified agreement supersedes any prior statute on wages, hours, and other employment conditions to the extent of the conflict, and it preempts contrary local ordinances, executive orders, and civil service commission rules.²⁴

One guardrail: a collective bargaining agreement cannot reduce any right, benefit, or privilege an employee holds under the chapter or other law unless a majority of the bargaining unit approves the reduction by secret ballot.²⁴ In practice, collective bargaining usually adds to Chapter 143’s baseline (adjusting promotional timelines, pay structures, or grievance procedures) rather than stripping rights away. If you work in a covered department with a union contract, the contract is the first document to check, and Chapter 143 is the floor beneath it.

1
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.002 – Municipalities Covered by Chapter
2
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.004 – Election to Adopt or Repeal Chapter
3
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.006 – Implementation Commission
4
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.025 – Entrance Examinations
5
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.021 – Classification; Examinations
6
ADA.gov. Questions and Answers The ADA and Hiring Police Officers
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 623 – Prohibition of Age Discrimination
8
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.032 – Promotional Examinations
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State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.031 – Eligibility for Promotional Examination
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State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.034 – Review and Appeal of Promotional Examination
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State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.051 – Cause for Removal or Suspension
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Texas Public Law. Texas Local Government Code 143.052 – Disciplinary Suspensions
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State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.053 – Appeal of Disciplinary Suspension
14
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.057 – Hearing Examiner
15
Justia. Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493
16
Justia. Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532
17
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.089 – Personnel File
18
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. OR2016-08082
19
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.045 – Sick Leave
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State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.042 – Assignment Pay
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours
22
U.S. Department of Labor. USERRA – A Guide to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
23
Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset Update
24
State of Texas. Texas Local Government Code 143.307 – Agreement Supersedes Conflicting Provisions