CHAD TRACY, CSC Docket No. 2019-458, 2019-1962
NJ Civil Service Commission decision of December 20, 2023, CSC Docket No. 2019-458: discipline, penalty upheld. Chad Tracy, Senior Correctional Police Officer, Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, Department of Corrections, 75 working day suspension and removal, effective January 24, 2019,
Commission decisions · Meeting of December 20, 2023
Chad Tracy, Senior Correctional Police Officer, Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, Department of Corrections, 75 working day suspension and removal, effective January 24, 2019, on charges of conduct unbecoming a public employee and other sufficient cause.
- Matter
- Discipline
- Decided
- December 20, 2023, item A-5
- Outcome
- Penalty upheld
- ALJ's recommendation
- Uphold the removal.
- What the Commission did with it
- Adopted the ALJ's recommendation
- Penalty appealed
- 75 working day suspension
- Penalty after the decision
- removal
- Title
- SENIOR CORRECTIONAL POLICE OFFICER
- Employer
- Corrections
- Chair at the time
- Allison Chris Myers, Acting Chairperson
- Official decision
- CSC's PDF
Action recorded in the minutes: The Civil Service Commission affirmed the recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge.
The decision
BackgroundThe appeals of Chad Tracy, Senior Correctional Police Officer, Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, Department of Corrections, 75 working day suspension and removal, effective January 24, 2019, on charges, were heard by Administrative Law Judge Dean J. Buono (ALJ), who rendered his initial decision on November 20, 2023. Exceptions were filed on behalf of the appellant and a reply 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, including a thorough review of the exceptions and reply, the Civil Service Commission (Commission), at its meeting on December 20, 2023, adopted the Findings of Fact and Conclusion as found in the initial decision and the recommendation to uphold the removal.1
Initially, the Commission notes that the ALJ's initial decision is not a paragon of clarity. In this regard, he presented two nearly identical "penalty" sections/discussions in the initial decision, which appears to be a transpositional error, or what is commonly known as a "copy and paste" type error. However, it is clear this error did not detract in any way from the ALJ's findings regarding the actual charges levied in this matter, or on his conclusions made therefrom and his
Administrative Law Judge1 The ALJ consolidated the 75 working day suspension and the removal, however, he made neither separate findings for each nor indicated a discrete penalty regarding the two matters, Rather, he found the misconduct in total supported removal from employment. As the actual misconduct underlying the suspension also served as a substantial factual basis for the subsequent removal, the Commission finds this disposition non-problematic. Specifically, the suspension was based on the actual inappropriate language used and threats made by the appellant, and the removal was based on a subsequent finding that the misconduct was also in violation of the New Jersey State Policy Prohibiting Discrimination in the Workplace.
About this page
Not an official copy. The decision of record is CSC's PDF. The text above was extracted from it and may differ in layout or, rarely, in a character.
Names appear as the Commission published them in its public minutes and decisions, initials where it used initials. This site does not offer a search by a person's name.
The labels are ours. The kind of matter and the outcome are our reading of the minutes; the ACTION text the Commission recorded is quoted verbatim above. A decision applies the rules to its own facts and is not a prediction for any other matter, and nothing here is legal advice.
To report an error on this page, use the contact form.