Supernumerary means more than is needed, desired, or required. Government positions are sometimes filled on a supernumerary basis, and such employees are referred to as supernumeraries. For example, a judge may wish to step down from a regular full-time position and take a position as a supernumerary judge to fill in and relieve the duties of other judges when there is a surplus of work. Supernumerary is also used in a general adjectival sense to refer to a surplus of any variety of items.
The following is an example of a state statute dealing with supernumeraries:
"No elected official may assume a supernumerary office after the effective date of this amendment. Any person who, on the effective date of this amendment, is entitled to participate in a supernumerary program may continue to participate in that supernumerary program, which shall include the assumption of a supernumerary office according to the terms and conditions of the law which established that supernumerary program. Any elected official may participate in the Employees' Retirement System of the state upon the same terms and conditions as may be specified by law for any other employee in the same retirement system. An elected official holding office at the time of the ratification of this amendment shall be eligible to purchase service credit in the Employees' Retirement System for the time the official has served in the current office; provided, however, the official shall forego the assumption of a supernumerary office. For the purposes of this amendment, the words "elected official" shall mean any person elected to a full-time office, and shall include any person appointed to serve the remaining term of an elected county official, but shall not include a judge, district attorney, legislator, constable, school board member, any official elected from a judicial circuit, or any official who is allowed by law to participate in any other retirement system."
