What is the “rule of three?
All candidates at the highest score are immediately eligible for consideration for appointment. Candidates at lower scores can be considered only when there are fewer than 3 candidates at higher scores. Any candidate’s eligibility for appointment depends not only on his or her rank (all eligibles who received the same score are equally ranked) but also how many other candidates are tied at that and higher level ranks.
When there are no veterans or disabled veterans on a certification, the rule of three applies which means that any one of the first three non-veterans may be selected. However, when eligibles on a certification have the same final average and veteran status, the rule of three for non-veterans is expanded to include everyone with the same score.
