RG 062 Personnel/Merit Employment

The forerunner of this record group, the Iowa Merit System Council, was created on January 1, 1940 by the General Assembly, following the passage in 1939 of an amendment to the Federal Social Security Act, which required states to employ personnel on the basis of merit in order to qualify for federal funds. In 1963, the 62nd General Assembly passed a bipartisan act providing that all appointments to positions in the classified service shall be made solely on the basis of merit and fitness. The act also created a Department of Merit Employment and a Merit Employment Commission.