Advocate Trainee, CSC Docket No. 2022-2229

BackgroundThe Division of Agency Services (Agency Services) requests the creation of the local government noncompetitive titles of Advocate Trainee, Witness Program and Advocate Trainee, Witness Program (Bilingual in Spanish and English).

Appellant's argumentIn its request on behalf of the County Prosecutor’s Association of New Jersey, Agency Services states that the creation of these trainee titles will help facilitate recruitment efforts of the various County Prosecutor’s Offices because candidates with no related skills or experience can be hired, thus attaining the necessary skills over the course of the one-year training period in the advocacy program. In this regard, Agency Services notes that the open competitive requirements for the two journey-level titles in the series is one year of experience providing advice and referral services to individuals or groups coping with social, emotional, psychological, or other problems. Moreover, Agency Services highlights that these are entry-level professional titles, which require a Bachelor’s degree, that are responsible for various support tasks. Since there is no experience requirements for the subject titles as they only requires possession of a Bachelor’s degree, there are no skillsets that can be tested. Upon successful completion of the training period, trainees will be eligible for advancement to either the Advocate, Victim Witness Program or Advocate, Victim Witness Program (Bilingual in Spanish and English) titles in accordance with regular civil service procedures.

Agency Services indicates that it would be appropriate to assign this title to the noncompetitive division of the career service. In this regard, it states that competitive testing is not practical for this title due to the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the job as this is a trainee title. The title has no experience requirement; hence there is no skill set to be tested. The required skill set would be gained on the job during the on-the-job training. It also notes that a title specifications have been developed for the subject titles to accommodate this request.

CONCLUSION

RuleN.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.6(a) states, in pertinent part, that the Commission may determine that a new title or title series is necessary. N.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(a) states that the Commission shall allocate and reallocate career service titles between the competitive and non-competitive divisions. N.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(c) states that a job title may be placed in the non-competitive division on an ongoing or interim basis when it is determined that competitive testing is not practicable due to the nature of the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the job.

AnalysisBased on the foregoing, ample reasons exist for the creation of the subject title and to allocate the Advocate Trainee, Witness Program and Advocate Trainee, Witness Program (Bilingual in Spanish and English) titled to the non-competitive division of the career service. In this regard, the subject titles are trainee position with no experience requirements as the skills required to perform the job are gained through on-the-job training. Given the lack of an experience requirement, in conjunction with the fact that it is an entry-level professional title that only requires possession of a Bachelor’s degree, competitive testing is not practicable since the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with this title are evaluated during the mandatory training period.

ORDER

Therefore, it is ordered that this request be granted, and the local government titles of Advocate Trainee, Witness Program and Advocate Trainee, Witness Program (Bilingual in Spanish and English) be established and allocated to the non- competitive division of the career service. This action shall be effective the date of this decision.

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