In Murray v. McNamara (303 NY 140 [1951]), the Court noted that, while it was mindful of the legislative policy embodied in then Civil Service Law 16 (now 52), favoring the filling of vacancies through promotions, under Article 5, section 6 of the Constitution, "the right to appointment is entitled to the same protection as the right to promotion . . ." (Id. at 146.) The Court held that "promotion examinations may be held only where the employees sought to be promoted have passes an open examination for a lower grade in the type of work involved in the position to which promotion is sought." (Id. at 146-147.)