Darlene Herring, CSC Docket No. 2022-869

BackgroundDarlene Herring appeals the determination of the Division of Agency Services (Agency Services) which found that she did not meet, per the substitution clause for education, the experience requirements for the promotional examination for Assistant Administrative Analyst (PM4204C), Trenton.

The subject examination announcement was issued with a closing date of July 21, 2021, and was open to employees in the competitive division who had an aggregate of one year of continuous permanent service as of the closing date in any competitive title and who met the announced requirements of possession of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Applicants who did not possess the required education could substitute experience, on a year for year basis, work experience in either:

analyzing, evaluating, and providing advice to management on such matters as work methods and procedures, communications, organizational structure, manpower utilization, distribution of work assignments, delegation of authority, policy development, records management or similar areas with the objective of improving managerial effectiveness;

OR managing, administering, or directing an organizational unit and its work programs which entailed responsibility for planning, organizing, directing, staffing, coordinating, and budgeting for the activities of the unit.

As the appellant was the sole applicant, the examination was cancelled on October 22, 2021.

On her application, the appellant indicated that she possessed no college credits, and therefore she was required to possess four years of applicable experience. She listed one position on her application, Clerk 4 from January 2018 to April 2021. She submitted a resume with these additional positions: Mayor’s Secretary/Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Staff from March 2014 to the July 21, 2021 closing date (overlaps with the first position); Senior Clerk Typist/Radio Dispatcher from June 2010 to March 2014; Administrative Secretary/ Personal Assistant to the Chief of Staff from June 2006 to July 2010; Senior Clerk Typist/Radio Dispatcher in 2006 (no months given); Clerk Typist/Senior Clerk Typist/Radio Dispatcher from 1999 to 2006 (no months given). Agency records indicate a similar yet different employment history. These records indicate that the appellant was a provisional Assistant Administrative Analyst from April 2021 to the closing date; Clerk 4 from October 2016 to April 2021; Radio Dispatcher/Keyboarding Clerk 2 from June 2010 to October 2016; Secretary to the Mayor from March 2009 to June 2010; Administrative Secretary from March 2006 to March 2009; Radio Dispatcher/Keyboarding Clerk 2 from March 2004 to March 2006; Keyboarding Clerk 2 from April 2001 to March 2004; and Keyboarding Clerk 1 from November 1999 to April 2001. None of her experience was accepted and she was found to be lacking four years of applicable experience.

Appellant's argumentOn appeal, the appellant provides a detailed description of her current duties, and states that she has over twenty years of experience. She provides a revised resume with significantly more descriptive duties for each position. She provides a letter of support from the Director of Public Works who attests to her abilities.

CONCLUSION

RuleN.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.6(a) provides that applicants shall meet all requirements specified in the promotional examination announcement by the closing date.

AnalysisIn order for experience to be considered applicable, it must have as its primary focus full-time responsibilities in the areas required in the announcement. See In the Matter of Bashkim Vlashi (MSB, decided June 9, 2004). The appellant was not credited for experience in her provisional position. She refers to this position as Mayor’s Secretary/Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Staff and described her duties in that position as:

Currently serving as a confidential secretary/assistant to administrative matters, maintain tickler files, plans and organizes daily schedule. Coordinates office operations. Completes payroll and other personnel related documentation. Coordinates data and maintains finances. Assist with daily operations in the Mayor’s Office, data entry, assist with clerical duties for Capital City My Brother’s

Keeper and the City of Trenton’s Veteran’s Office.

Based on this description, the appellant is not performing the duties of an Assistant Administrative Analyst. An incumbent in this title assists in performing the work involved in the analysis and evaluation of administrative procedures, practices, and organizational structure in order to provide information and recommendations to management on ways to improve administrative functions and managerial control of operational activities. The assignments at this level involve the analysis of work that consists of clear-cut processes, and they perform their assignments under instructions that include the methods to follow and precise identification of the results expected in terms of the form and content of finished reports and papers on analytical studies. Recommendations and commitments made by employees at this level are limited by the scope and complexity of assignments which involve study of a few routine and repetitive processes and application of well-established methods, principles, and procedures. positions in this class perform one or several kinds of analytical studies, (i.e., methods and procedures, work measurement, forms development and control, manpower utilization, management improvement, organizational structure, etc.) characteristic of this series, but less than the full range of such kinds of work. Their work is reviewed for compliance with instructions, adequacy of application of basic principles, theories, techniques, and methodologies, and soundness of conclusions or recommendations made.

Work assignments for an Assistant Administrative Analyst typically require:

(1) the analysis of one or very few organizational entities which are usually small and involve one or a very few processes, functions or procedures, or (2) the analysis of organizations or functions of limited importance as reflected by the narrow scope and simplicity of the work assignments, or (3) analysis of work processes or functions which are simple in that they:

1. Are of a clerical or equivalent nature;

2. Are comprised of one or a very few kinds of tasks;

3. Are relatively stable and unchanging in basic nature over relatively long periods of time;

4. Are performed in an organizational entity which is relatively stable and unchanging;

5. Comprise repetitive tasks or processes;

6. Are controlled by detailed directives and policies of higher authority, by legislation, etc.;

7. Consist of work items and work processes which are relatively uniform and unvarying;

8. Are relatively independent of and not interrelated with other work processes, i.e., the methods of procedures do not vary as a result of actions by other organizations; other organizations do not vary their methods and procedures as the work of this unit; there is not a need to negotiate with other units and to adjust methods and procedures to fit circumstances surrounding individual tasks, etc.;

9. Do not require close or detailed coordination with other organizational entities;

10. Do not include problems which may require consideration recommendation of new, additional, different, or amended legislation for successful solution of the problem, and,

11. Require solutions which result from: (a) application of accepted and clearly applicable practices, theories, techniques, and methods of management; (b) application of well-established and clearly applicable precedents; (c) following of relatively specific instructions as to the area and nature of the problem, nature of the expected solution, and the procedures to be used in executing the assignments; (d) clarification, improvement, refinement, or otherwise changing in a relatively minor way of existing organizations, procedures, methods, etc., of the above described level of difficulty; or (e) developing or extensively altering only the simplest organizations, methods, procedures, etc.

The Assistant Administrative Analyst is not a clerical title, but a professional one. It is also not a supervisory title. In this case, the appellant’s description of her duties suggests that she assists the Mayor with clerical or secretarial duties. On appeal, the appellant describes her position as a confidential administrative clerk, and she indicates that she supervises clerical staff in multiple divisions. She manages the Director’s Office activities including scheduling, preparing documentation, providing statistics, overseeing clerical activities, reviewing paperwork for accuracy, supervising and training staff, and assisting others. In other words, the description of duties that the appellant provided in her original application and in her appeal submissions suggests that she does not primarily perform the experience associated with the Assistant Administrative Analyst classification.

The appellant’s remaining positions are inapplicable, as these positions were clerical or secretarial in nature. The appellant lacks four years of applicable experience per the substitution clause for education.

An independent review of all material presented indicates that the decision of the Agency Services, that the appellant did not meet the announced requirements for eligibility by the closing date, is amply supported by the record. The appellant provides no basis to disturb this decision. Thus, the appellant has failed to support her burden of proof in this matter.

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.