Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AIJSJTIN. TIIXAS 78711 August 22, 1975 The Honorable Tim Curry Opinion No. H- 672 Criminal District Attorney Tarrant County Courthouse Re: Whether juvenile probation Fort Worth, Texas 76102 officers are covered by the County Civil Service Act. Dear Mr. Curry: You have requested our opinion concerning whether juvenile probation officers are “employees” within the operation of the County Civil Service Act, article 2372h-6, V. T. C. S. In Attorney General Opinion H-619 (1975) we found that adult probation officers were not subject to the County Civil Service Act, since we believed the control exercised by district judges over adult probation was inconsistent with the authority of the Civil Service Commission concerning employees subject to the Act. We believe the rationale of H-619 is applicable to your question and that the juvenile probation officers of Tarrant County are not subject to the County Civil Service Act. Article 5139, V. T. C. S., provides that the district judges and county judge shall constitute the Juvenile Board of counties having a population of 100, 000 or over. Since article 5142c-2 requires the chief juvenile probation officer to be appointed by the Board, and assistants to be appointed subject to the Board’s approval, in our view the various judges exercise a degree of control over juvenile probation officers which would be inconsistent with the powers of a County Civil Service Commission. See Attorney General Opinion H-619. - SUMMARY Juvenile probation officers of Tarrant County are not subject to the County Civil Service Act. /3Cery truly yours: Attorney General of Texas p. 2928 The Honorable Tim Curry - Page 2 (H-672) Opinion Committee jad: p. 2929