Emergency Medical Services Titles, CSC Docket No. 2025-27

BackgroundThe Division of Agency Services (Agency Services), on behalf of Monmouth County (County), requests that the Supervising Emergency Medical Technician, Senior Emergency Medical Technician, and Coordinator Emergency Medical Services titles be placed in the noncompetitive division of the career service on an interim basis.

By way of background, due to the significant shortage of emergency medical services personnel, the County Sheriff’s Office recently created the new EMS/Medstar Division to establish reinforcement of the services provided by municipalities within the County. The County indicates that permanent appointment of the appropriate staff is essential and is needed to facilitate this critical stage of the program’s implementation. In this regard, the County has identified the need to make regular appointment to the aforementioned competitive titles. In accordance with N.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(c)3, the County requests that these titles be allocated to the non-competitive division for 90 days to allow for the appointment of current employees as follows: eight employees to Supervising Emergency Medical Technician (04587); one employee to Senior Emergency Medical Technician (03312); and one employee to Coordinator Emergency Medical Services (04570). The appointing authority explains that it has already selected the appointees and verified that they meet the minimum requirements as outlined in the job specifications. The County believes that reallocation of the titles to the non-competitive division will expedite permanent appointments, which shall prevent any delay of program implementation or disruption of services.

Appointing authority's argumentIn support of the request, the County provided an organizational chart for the EMS/Medstar Division and Position Classification Questionnaires. Agency Services indicates that a review of this information confirmed that the positions are appropriately classified. Additionally, the County indicated that there are no bargaining units associated with these titles. Furthermore, records indicate that there are no current promotional, special reemployment or open competitive lists for the affected titles. Accordingly, Agency Services recommends that this request be approved.

CONCLUSION

RuleN.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(c) provides that a job title may be placed in the noncompetitive division on an ongoing or interim basis when it is determined by the Civil Service Commission (Commission) that it is appropriate to make permanent appointments to the title and one or more of the following criteria are met.

Analysis1. Competitive testing is not practicable due to the nature of the knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with the job;

2. Certification procedures based on ranked eligible lists have not or are likely have not or likely to meet the needs of appointing authorities due to such factors as salary, geographic location, recruitment problems, and working conditions; or

3. There is a need for immediate appointments arising from a new legislation program or major agency reorganization.

RuleN.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(e) provides, in pertinent part, that prior to any reallocation from the competitive to noncompetitive division, whether on an ongoing or interim basis, an administrative review shall be conducted and notice of the proposed reallocation shall be sent to affected appointing authorities and negotiations representatives. The notice shall designate the period of time, which in no event shall be less than 20 days, during which written comment may be submitted, and may provide for a public hearing.

AnalysisIn the instant matter, the County seeks to reallocate the Supervising Emergency Medical Technician (04587), Senior Emergency Medical Technician (03312), and Coordinator Emergency Medical Services (04570) titles to the noncompetitive division of the career service on an interim basis. Based on the circumstances surrounding this matter as described above, Agency Services supports the request. These noncompetitive appointments will allow the County to expedite permanent appointments due to staff shortages of emergency medical services personnel, which shall prevent any delay of program implementation or disruption of services. Additionally, the County indicated that there are no bargaining units associated with these titles. Therefore, the Commission grants the requests pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:3-1.2(c)3 in order to allocate the above referenced titles to the noncompetitive division of the career service on an interim basis, for 90 days, in order to effectuate the appointment of the affected employees into the appropriate titles. It is noted that the employees would need to serve current working test periods, since appointments cannot become permanent until successful completion of a working test period pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.1, et seq. Further, this decision is based on the unique facts of this case and does not set a precedent for any other matter.

ORDER

It is ordered that the specified titles within Monmouth County be reallocated to the noncompetitive division title of the career service on an interim basis, for 90 days from the issuance of this decision, in order to effectuate the appointment of the identified employees into the appropriate titles. At the end of this period, the subject titles will be returned to the competitive division of the career service.

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