COURTNEY BROWN, CSC Docket No. 2015-683
NJ Civil Service Commission decision of December 16, 2020, CSC Docket No. 2015-683: working test period, penalty upheld. Courtney Brown, Family Service Specialist 2, Department of Children and Families, release at the end of the working test period effective August 22, 2014.
Commission decisions · Meeting of December 16, 2020
Courtney Brown, Family Service Specialist 2, Department of Children and Families, release at the end of the working test period effective August 22, 2014.
- Matter
- Working test period
- Decided
- December 16, 2020, item A-2
- Outcome
- Penalty upheld
- ALJ's recommendation
- Uphold the release at the end of the working test period.
- What the Commission did with it
- Adopted the ALJ's recommendation
- Employer
- Children and Families
- Chair at the time
- Deirdre L. Webster Cobb, Chairperson
- Official decision
- Published by CSC in its monthly archive bundle (A-002 COURTNEY BROWN.pdf)
Action recorded in the minutes: The Civil Service Commission affirmed the recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge.
Rules this decision applies
The decision
CSC published this decision as a scanned image. The text below was recognized by OCR, read twice and checked against the meeting minutes, but OCR can misread a word. The official document is the record.
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BackgroundThe appeal of Courtney Brown, Family Service Specialist 2, Department of Children and Families, of her release at the end of the working test period, was heard by Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Elia A. Pelios, who rendered his initial decision on November 23, 2020. Exceptions were field on behalf of the appointing authority and the appellant and a reply to exceptions was filed on behalf of the appointing authority.
AnalysisHaving considered the record and the ALJ’s initial decision, and having made an independent evaluation of the record, the Civil Service Commission, at its meeting on December 16, 2020, accepted and adopted the Findings of Fact as contained in the attached Administrative Law Judge’s initial decision.
However, the Commission does not adopt the ALJ’s statement that the appointing authority's “returning the appellant to her previously held position be AFFIRMED.” In this regard, the appellant was in the primary title of Family Service Specialist 2 after having successfully completed her tenure in an underlying trainee title. Once an individual is advanced from a trainee title to a primary title, they lose any rights to that trainee title. In this regard, N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.7())4 states that trainees who are advanced to a primary title, shall be required to complete a working test period in the primary title and those who fail to successfully complete a working test period in the primary title have no right to return to the trainee title! Thus, the appointing authority in this matter properly separated the appellant from employment after her failure to successfully complete her working test period.
ORDER
The Civil Service Commission finds that the action of the appointing authority in releasing the appellant at the end of the working test period was justified. The Commission therefore affirms that action and dismisses the appeal of Courtney Brown.
ClosingThis is the final administrative determination in this matter. Any further review should be pursued in a judicial forum.
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