NJ Civil Service Navigator
State Payroll

The Judiciary

9,609 employees · NJ state government agency

The Judiciary anchors a workforce of 9,609 employees, one of the biggest payrolls in state government.

The most common title is Judiciary Clerk 4 (26% of staff), followed by Probation Officer and Senior Probation Officer. Median pay is $72,540, about 14% below the statewide median. About 74% of its employees are mapped to a civil service title specification, lower than most state agencies because it employs more agency-specific or unclassified roles.

Median tenure is 9.1 years. PANJ represents the largest share of its unionized workforce (about 28%).

About The Judiciary

This payroll line covers New Jersey's state court system: the Supreme Court, the Appellate Division, the Superior Court sitting in vicinages across the state, and the Tax Court. New Jersey runs probation supervision through the courts rather than through a corrections agency, so probation staff are court employees here rather than executive branch ones.

That structure shapes the roster. Judiciary clerks handle the case files, calendars and counters in every vicinage and form the single biggest block of staff. Probation officers at two levels come next, followed by the court services supervisors who run the units they sit in. Law clerks appear in volume because the courts take on a fresh class each year for one-year clerkships, which pulls the median tenure below what a court system with only career staff would show. Court employees are also represented differently from the executive branch, through PANJ and the JCAU coalition rather than CWA alone.

Who works here

These are the titles that carry the most people on this payroll. Each one links to its civil service specification, which sets out the duties, the minimum requirements and the salary range.

7 further titles appear on this agency's payroll, 19 in all.

Titles you will not find elsewhere

16 of this agency's titles are concentrated here rather than shared across departments, and for 15 of them every single position in the state sits on this payroll.

Concentration is measured against the same payroll file, comparing this agency's headcount in a title with the statewide headcount in that title.

How pay is spread

Below are the quartile boundaries for this agency's salaries, with the statewide equivalents alongside them for reference.

The middle half of this agency's employees earn between $58,740 and $102,697, a ratio of 1.75 between the two quartiles. State government as a whole sits at 1.81, so this agency's pay is bunched more tightly than average, which tends to happen where one or two large titles carry most of the staff.

  • Lowest recorded salary$41,400
  • Lower quartile$58,740
    statewide $62,428
  • Median salary$72,540
    statewide $84,796
  • Upper quartile$102,697
    statewide $113,264
  • Highest recorded salary$186,441

Based on 9,330 salaried records, with 518 statistical outliers excluded from the quartile calculation.

Union representation

Which contract covers a job decides its salary schedule, its step ladder and its grievance route. This is the union mix on this payroll.

  • PANJ2,688 employees
    28.0% of the agency
  • JCAU2,104 employees
    21.9% of the agency
  • CWA1,930 employees
    20.1% of the agency
  • OPEIU10 employees
    0.1% of the agency

Union coverage is identifiable for 70% of this agency's payroll records. The remainder are unclassified, exempt or managerial positions that sit outside a bargaining unit.

How long people stay

Tenure tells you something a salary table cannot: whether this is a place people arrive at or a place they stay.

Half of this agency's employees have been on the state payroll longer than 9.1 years, well short of the statewide median of 9.6. 38% joined within the last five years, and 24% have twenty years or more behind them.

  • Under 5 years3,456 employees
    37.7% of those with a hire date
  • 5 to 10 years1,443 employees
    15.7% of those with a hire date
  • 10 to 15 years1,207 employees
    13.2% of those with a hire date
  • 15 to 20 years820 employees
    8.9% of those with a hire date
  • 20 to 25 years1,097 employees
    12.0% of those with a hire date
  • 25 years or more1,145 employees
    12.5% of those with a hire date

Hire dates are present for 9,168 of this agency's 9,609 payroll records.

Overtime

1,690 employees here recorded overtime, 17.6% of the agency, against 31.6% across state government. Little overtime usually means salaried professional work with no shift to fill.

Together they were paid $1,071,523 in overtime, averaging $634 for each employee who earned any. Overtime is not part of the salary figures elsewhere on this page, which report base pay.

  • Employees with recorded overtime1,690
  • Share of the agency17.6%
  • Total overtime paid$1,071,523
  • Average per employee earning it$634

Civil service coverage

74% of this agency's payroll records carry a title that matches a published civil service specification. The rest are unclassified, exempt or agency-specific positions filled outside the competitive examination process, so the standard exam and eligible list route covers most but not all of the jobs here.

  • Records matched to a specification7,099
  • Records with no matching specification2,510
  • Distinct civil service titles on the roster19

Where it sits among state agencies

By headcount this is the largest of the 39 payroll lines in New Jersey state government, holding 12.8% of the state workforce.

Its nearest neighbours by headcount, for readers who want a like-for-like comparison.