LaShae Morgan, CSC Docket No. 2022-2058

BackgroundLaShae Morgan requests that she be permitted to submit an application for the open competitive examination for Police Officer (M0103D), Newark, after the application filing deadline.

By way of background, the announcement for the subject examination issued on January 3, 2022 with a February 28, 2022 closing date and all applications had to have been received by 4:00 p.m. on that date. The subject announcement, in the “Important Information” section, informed candidates:

If you are having difficulty submitting your application on-line, technical support and customer care are available during regular business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST, Monday-Friday, excluding holidays and emergency closings. Please email:

OAS.support@csc.state.nj.us or call (609)292-4144. Please note that application support requests received outside of regular business hours on the closing date will not change the application filing deadline, so please file early.

It is noted that the subject examination is tentatively scheduled to be administered in Spring 2022.

Appellant's argumentOn appeal, Morgan presents that her “financial situation is on edge so I didn’t have the extra money to apply until the last day, only to not have access to the e-mail address that I previously made an account under. About the time the customer service team reached back out it was after 4 pm and the application had been tak[en] down.”

CONCLUSION

RuleN.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.3(b)3 provides that applicants for open competitive examinations shall submit an application on or before the announced application filing date. N.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.1(e) provides, in part, that applications for open competitive examinations shall be submitted no later than 4:00 p.m. on the announced application filing date. N.J.A.C. 4A:1-1.2(c) provides that a rule may be relaxed for good cause shown in a particular situation.

AnalysisThe OAS support unit was contacted regarding this matter and provided available email correspondence with the appellant. In this regard, on February 28, 2022 at 12:06 p.m., the appellant contacted OAS support using a gmail.com address with the following message: “I[’]m trying to fill out for a job position and it[’]s saying I have an account already. I[’]m not sure which email address I used previously. I have a new email address.” In response, in an email sent on February 28, 2022 at 3:56 p.m., to the appellant’s gmail.com address, OAS support indicated, “The email address [previous account name]@gmail.com was used to create your profile; should it be updated to [current account name]@gmail,com? If not, please return to the login screen through your announcement and click on ‘Forgot your password?’, then enter your username – [*****] (case sensitive) – and email address. You will receive an email containing a link to reset your password. Click on the link and enter the answer to your security question – [*****] (case sensitive). You will then be able to reset your password.” On February 28, 2022 at 4:03 p.m., the appellant replied, “Yes it should be updated to [current account name]@gmail.com.” On March 7, 2022, the appellant’s email address change request to [current account name]@gmail.com was processed and completed.

In the present matter, the appellant contacted OAS support prior to the application filing deadline in anticipation of remedying the change in her email address so that she could login to her OAS account and submit a timely application. However, for reasons that are unclear in the record, the appellant’s email address was not updated to [current account name]@gmail.com until March 7, 2022, a week after the application filing deadline.

The Commission notes that the dual purpose of the Civil Service system is to ensure efficient public service for State and local governments and to provide appointment and advancement opportunities to Civil Service employees based on their merit and abilities. These interests are best served when more, rather than fewer, individuals are presented with employment opportunities. See Communications Workers of America v. New Jersey Department of Personnel, 154 N.J. 121 (1998). Given this, good cause exists to relax the provisions of N.J.A.C.

4A:4-2.6(a)4 and allow the appellant to file an application after the application deadline for Police Officer (M0103D), Newark. This remedy is limited to the facts of this matter and may not be used as precedent for any other proceeding.

ORDER

Therefore, it is ordered that this request be granted and the appellant be permitted to submit an application for Police Officer (M0103D), Newark. It is also ordered that the appellant submit an open competitive examination application and the $35.00 application processing fee to the Division of Agency Services. The application and processing fee must be postmarked no later than 15 days from the issuance date of this decision. Upon receipt of the application and processing fee, it is ordered that her application be processed. If the appellant’s application and the required payment is not postmarked on or before the 15th day after the issuance date of this decision, she will not be entitled to have her application reviewed. It is further ordered that upon determination of eligibility, the appellant be admitted to the subject examination.

ClosingThis is the final administrative determination in this matter. Any further review should be pursued in a judicial forum.