Jasmine Harden, CSC Docket No. 2022-208

BackgroundJasmine Harden appeals the decision of the Division of Agency Services (Agency Services) which found that she did not meet the experience requirements for the open competitive examination for Senior Personnel Technician (M0004C), Newark School District.

The subject open competitive examination had a closing date of January 21, 2021 and was to residents of Newark City and Essex County who met the announced requirements. Those requirements were graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor’s degree, and two years of technical experience in personnel work which shall have included position classification, compensation, benefits, administration, testing, interviewing, and/or related functions. Possession of a Master’s degree in Personnel Administration, Applied Psychology, or other related field may be substituted for one year of the above experience. The appellant was found to be below the minimum requirements in experience. The resultant eligible list was promulgated on July 22, 2021 with six names, was certified once, and no appointments have yet been made.

On her application, the appellant indicated possession of a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Child Advocacy and Policy. As this is not in a field related to Personnel Administration or Applied Psychology, the appellant was required to possess two years of applicable experience. She listed the following positions on her application: Program Coordinator with the Center for Court Innovation; Care

Manager with The Partnership for Children; Youth Developer with the Center for Court Innovation; and Case Developer with the Center for Court Innovation. She was credited with three months of experience for the one position on her application and was found to be lacking two years, nine months of required experience. On her resume she added a position as Behavioral Assistant (Independent Contractor) but did not include hours worked per week. She was found to be lacking two years of applicable experience.

Appellant's argumentOn appeal, the appellant provides other duties for her position as Program Coordinator. She also refers to her “current position” and provides some duties.

CONCLUSION

N.J.A.C. 4A: 4-2.3(b) provides that applicants shall meet all requirements specified in the open competitive examination announcement by the closing date.

In the instant matter, the appellant was found to be lacking two years of qualifying experience as none of her experience had the announced experience requirement as the primary focus. As a Program Coordinator, the appellant supervised youth court staff, participants and volunteers; recruited youth court members and “facilitated” a training course for youth court members; conducted intake assessments for children and families and ensured a high sanction completion rate; organized community projects; tracked quality and compliance; wrote grant proposals and reports, and reported outcomes and compliance; liaised with community partners; made public presentations; oversaw program evaluation, reporting, and office management; and assisted in planning, training and implementing youth programs and services. On appeal, the appellant explains that she prepared reports and documents for human resources, performed “on-boarding” tasks for new employees, trained staff on policies and procedures, trained and communicated the annual evaluation process, created and conducted orientation for new employees and conducted interviews of new hires. While some of this experience relates to the announced requirement, a holistic view of all duties does not establish that technical experience in personnel work was the primary focus of this position. Rather, the focus was program administration of a youth court, and any technical experience in personnel work was ancillary to this goal. Her remaining positions involved working with children and families, and the duties were not technical personnel work.

On a final note, the On-Line Application System User’s Guide cautions applicants to carefully review the application to ensure that it is complete and accurate before submitting, and to complete the application in detail. It states that failure to complete the application properly may cause the applicant to be declared ineligible. The instructions under the experience portion of the applications advise applicants to provide all employment information (not just current employment information), and if they have multiple positions, they need to make sure that they provide each one separately. The appellant should follow these instructions and properly complete any future applications for examinations. In this instance, the appellant did not provide any information on her provisional position. It is noted that the appellant was provisionally appointed on December 20, 2020 and the closing date was January 21, 2021. Even if she had included this position, she had only two months of experience as of the closing date.

ORDER

Therefore, it is ordered that this appeal be denied.

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