Ala. Code § 45-28-234.07: Personnel Manual.

The board may promulgate such rules governing the employees of the office of the sheriff through a personnel manual which shall contain provisions for equal opportunity in employment and advancement on a nondiscriminatory basis for all persons, and shall contain provisions that all employment policies shall be administered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin in regard to examinations, eligible registers, appointments, transfers, salaries, promotions, demotions, annual, holiday, and sick leave, and such other matters as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this part. Any proposed rule shall become effective only after it is adopted at a meeting of the board which meeting is open to the public, and after a certified copy thereof has been filed with the office of the judge of probate . All employees shall be appointed upon a nonpartisan merit basis. The rules promulgated by the board shall not apply to those exempt appointees enumerated in subsection (b) Section 45-28-234.01, who shall serve at the pleasure of the sheriff.