Leave Rights in NJ Civil Service

Which leave rules apply to you

In State service the leave subchapter applies to career service employees unless a section says otherwise, and temporary employees are not entitled to its leaves or benefits (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(b)). Several sections carry "State service" in their title and stop there: the sick leave procedures, administrative leave, leave without pay, jury duty and pregnancy-disability leave among them.

In local service the appointing authority establishes the types of leave and the procedures for them (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)). The rule then lists what a local employee is entitled to regardless: vacation leave under 4A:6-1.2(b) through (h), sick leave under 4A:6-1.3(a) through (h), military leave, leave for a gubernatorial appointment, convention leave, elective office leave, State family leave and federal family and medical leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)1). Where the subchapter sets no procedure, the employer sets one, subject to negotiations requirements where they apply (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(e)). Some limits still reach a local employer. It may grant a permanent employee unpaid leave of up to one year, and a longer leave needs the Chairperson's written approval (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)2). A donated leave program or a voluntary furlough program needs the Chairperson's approval (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(g), 4A:6-1.23(b)). And the statute gives organ and bone marrow donors paid leave in local service as well as State service (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5.2).

Police officers and firefighters are a third case. Their vacation and sick leave are established by local ordinance (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)4), and the statute says their leaves of absence are governed by Title 40A and the convention leave section (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-9). If that is you, the figures below are not your figures. The local jurisdiction overview explains how local civil service employers differ from the State.

How much vacation you earn

In State service, vacation is credited at the beginning of each calendar year in anticipation of continued employment, and the amount rises with years of continuous service (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(a)). The local figures are stated as amounts a full-time employee gets at least, so a county or town may give more (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(b)). The statute frames the State tiers the same way: State career and senior executive vacation shall be at least those figures, and the statute leaves negotiated vacation rights untouched (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-2). It sets the local tiers as minimums too (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-3).

Leave without pay and suspensions do not break continuous service, but the time spent on them does not count toward the years, except for military leave, furlough extension leave, voluntary furlough and leave for a job-related injury under workers' compensation (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(c)2). In State service, a raise in your tier arrives at the start of the calendar year in which you will reach the service milestone, not on your anniversary, and if unpaid leave pushes the milestone into a later year you owe back the extra days credited too early (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(a)3, (a)3i). Those two State rules are not on the local list, so a local employer's practice on them is its own (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)).

Part-time and 10-month employees receive a proportionate amount (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(e), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-7). In State service vacation may be granted, recorded and tracked in hours (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(f)). In State service, an employee who uses up the year's days is credited with nothing more until the next January (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(i)).

Unused vacation: carrying it over and being paid for it

Carryover is tight. Vacation you could not use in a calendar year because of business necessity has to be used in the next year only, and it should be scheduled so you do not lose it (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(g)). The rule gives no second year. Scheduling itself is left to the employer, which may set procedures for when vacation is taken.

There are three exceptions where leave keeps accumulating until a plan approved by the Commission's Chairperson lets you use it or pays you for it. A State employee who could not take vacation because of duties directly related to a state of emergency declared by the Governor is one. A State employee called to active military duty in the situations the rule describes is another. A local employee kept from vacation by a declared state of emergency may be the third, at the employer's discretion (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(g)1 through 3).

On payout, the civil service rules give a direct answer. An employee who leaves State government service or service with a local jurisdiction is paid for unused earned vacation leave, and that holds even after an intergovernmental transfer (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(h)). The word that matters is earned. In State service, leaving before the end of the calendar year means your leave is prorated to the time you actually worked: 23 days or more on the payroll in a month earns that month in full, and more than 14 but fewer than 23 earns half (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.5(b)). Days used beyond your prorated entitlement are yours to repay (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.5(a), (b)1).

Two more points apply at the end. In State service, vacation stops accruing once you resign or retire, even if your name stays on the payroll while you use up leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(a)4). And when an employee dies, the estate is paid for the accumulated vacation (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-4).

Sick leave: how much and what it covers

Full-time State employees, and full-time local employees as a minimum, receive one working day for each month of service in the first calendar year and then 15 working days at the start of every year after (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(a), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5). The starting month follows the same 1st-to-8th and 9th-to-23rd split as vacation. Part-time and 10-month employees get a proportionate share (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(b)).

Unused sick leave accumulates from year to year without limit, including across an intergovernmental transfer, with an exception for a firefighter or law enforcement officer who waived accumulated sick leave on transferring (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(f)). Sick days do not accrue during leave without pay or a suspension, but they do keep accruing during a voluntary furlough or furlough extension leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(c)).

You may use sick leave when you cannot work because of (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(g)):

• your own illness or injury;
• exposure to a contagious disease;
• caring, for a reasonable period, for a seriously ill member of your immediate family;
• a death in your immediate family, for a reasonable period.

Immediate family is broad. The Commission's definition takes in a spouse, domestic partner or civil union partner, children, legal wards, grandchildren, foster children, parents, legal guardians, grandparents, siblings, parents-in-law, other relatives living in your household, and anyone whose close association with you is the equivalent of a family relationship, such as a step-relative (N.J.A.C. 4A:1-1.3). An employee with a disability may also use sick leave for absences tied to getting or using an aid needed on the job, on reasonable proof (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(h)).

Leave for a work injury is a separate matter, and in State service it is closed to newer injuries. The statute says the Commission's sick leave injury rules do not apply, and that leave is not available, for a State employee whose injury or illness from State employment occurred on or after the effective date of P.L.2010, c.3, or after a contract provision in force on that date expired (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-8).

Calling out sick and proving it in State service

These procedures are written for State service (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(a)). A local employer sets its own, and the State version is a useful comparison rather than a rule that binds it.

Notice comes first. On an ordinary schedule you tell the contact person your agency designates by your scheduled reporting time. In a unit that needs 24-hour or shift coverage, the call has to come at least one hour before your starting time, although the contact person can make exceptions for a sudden illness or emergency (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(b), (c)).

Proof of illness may be required in three situations: where there is reason to believe you are abusing sick leave, after five or more consecutive work days out, or after more than 15 days out in total in a 12-month period (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(d)). A chronic or recurring condition that causes occasional absences of a day or less needs one proof every six months, stating the illness and that it is likely to cause periodic absences (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(e)). For a contagious disease exposure, a family death or care of a sick relative, reasonable proof may be required (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(f)). The agency may also send you to a doctor it chooses and pays for before you continue on sick leave or come back, and it must schedule the exam so it does not unduly delay your return (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(g)).

Skipping these steps has consequences. The absence can be denied, treated as sick leave abuse, or be cause for discipline (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(h)); the discipline and removal guide covers what follows from a charge. Medical information gathered under this section is kept in separate, confidential medical files, with limited exceptions such as telling a supervisor about necessary work restrictions (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(j)).

Unused sick leave when you retire

Leaving State service does not convert sick leave into cash. The one exception is retirement (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.5(d)), through a lump sum the rules call supplemental compensation on retirement, or SCOR.

Who qualifies: State career service employees, senior executive service employees with underlying permanent career status, and senior executive and unclassified employees whose titles get sick leave on the same terms and under the same verification rules as the career service (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.1(a), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-16). Payment depends on retiring from a pension system the State administers (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.1(b)). Disability retirement, accidental or ordinary, qualifies. Deferred retirement does not, and neither does a separation that is not a retirement (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.1(b)2, 4, N.J.S.A. 11A:6-18). Someone removed for cause, or who retires in lieu of removal or under circumstances that would warrant removal, is ineligible unless the Chairperson allows it because the removal rested on a medical disability or the Commission finds sufficient mitigating circumstances (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.1(b)1).

The amount is half your daily rate of pay for each day of earned, unused accumulated sick leave on the effective date of retirement. The daily rate comes from your average annual compensation in the last full year of active work, with overtime and other supplemental pay left out, and the total cannot exceed $15,000 (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.3, N.J.S.A. 11A:6-19). It has no effect on your pension (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.4(g), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-22).

Some sick days never count. A break in service through resignation, retirement or removal restarts the SCOR count from your return; a layoff does not, and leave from both sides of it is credited (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.2, N.J.S.A. 11A:6-21). Sick leave you bring back on reemployment can be used, but it is not counted for SCOR (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.4(i)). Neither are days you received through the donated leave program (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(e)2). An employee who retired with the maximum payment and comes back gets no second one, and one who received less can later receive only the difference up to the maximum (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.2(a)1, 2). Periods of unpaid leave are left out of the computation, and a 10-month employee who received sick leave without proration has the balance reduced by one-sixth (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.3(a)2, (c)).

Applying is a short sequence (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.4):

1. Wait for the retirement approval. You apply after you receive a copy of the official notice that the pension board or authority approved your retirement.
2. File form DPF-279 within one year. Submit the application form DPF-279 within one year of the effective date of your retirement.
3. Your employer certifies the days. Once it has the employer's copy of the retirement approval and your application, the appointing authority sends the Commission, within 45 days, a certification of your earned and unused accumulated sick leave and the amount to be paid. If it has not received the approval notice, it must tell you so within 45 days of getting your form.
4. The Commission reviews eligibility. The Chairperson or designee approves the request if the eligibility criteria are met. A disapproval comes with written reasons and notice of the right to appeal.
5. Payment through payroll. The appointing authority pays through its normal payroll procedures, and withholds payment if you cancel the retirement. If you die after the retirement date but before payment, it goes to your estate.

Local employees are in a different position. The rules do not require a county or municipality to pay anything for unused sick leave. What the statute does is cap it: a Title 11A political subdivision may not pay more than $15,000 for unused sick leave, and payment is made only at retirement (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-19.2). That cap applies to employees who began service on or after the effective date of P.L.2010, c.3, and it does not affect a relevant provision of a collective negotiations agreement in force on that date (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-19.2). A similar cap reaches certain elected and appointed officers, except that an officer who had already accrued more under the conditions that section sets may receive that amount or $15,000, whichever is greater (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-19.1). Whether a local employer pays at all is a question for its policy and your contract.

Administrative leave, the personal days of State service

Full-time State employees in the career and senior executive services receive three days of administrative leave each calendar year for personal business, emergencies and religious observances (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.9(a), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-6). When requests compete, the rule ranks emergencies first, religious holidays second and personal matters third. Unclassified employees may be given up to three days at the employer's discretion (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.9(b)).

Your employer must approve each use but cannot unreasonably deny it, and administrative leave can be combined with other paid leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.9(d), (f)). The difference from vacation is what happens at year end: unused administrative leave is forfeited, with no carryover and no payout (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.9(e)). A new hire gets half a day for each full calendar month of employment, up to three days, in the first year. This section is State only; local employees get personal days only if their employer or contract provides them.

State family leave and federal FMLA

Two laws, and the Commission's rules describe both. The State Family Leave Act reaches State and local employees, and the Division on Civil Rights has adopted the rules that implement and enforce it (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21A(a)). The federal Family and Medical Leave Act section in the rules is informational and covers where FMLA differs from the State act (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B(a)). Your employer decides how far one, both or neither applies to your request and records the leave to match (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21(a)).

Where you qualify under both, leave counts against both at once, and nothing in the FMLA cuts back a State provision that gives you more (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B(h)). Your employer may designate paid leave as FMLA leave once you tell it the reason, and it must notify you of that designation within two work days of your notice where it has enough information (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B(i)). You may choose to use paid vacation, sick or administrative leave during State family leave, as long as you meet that leave's own requirements (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21A(j)).

During State family leave the employer keeps your group health coverage at the level it would have provided had you kept working, unpaid family leave is not deducted from seniority for layoff purposes, and a layoff during the leave leaves your rights intact (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21A(f), (h), (i)). The State act lets an employer deny the leave only to an employee among its highest paid five percent or seven highest paid, whichever is greater, only where denial is necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury, and only if it gives notice when it decides denial is necessary; an employee whose leave has already begun returns within 10 working days of that notice (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21A(d)).

Pregnancy in State service has its own section. Leave for disability due to pregnancy is granted on the same terms as sick leave or leave without pay, you may use accrued sick, vacation or administrative leave without having to exhaust it before going unpaid, and you must exhaust accrued sick leave to be eligible for New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.8(a)). Child care leave beyond the family leave entitlements may be granted on the same terms as any other leave without pay (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.8(b)).

Donated leave from coworkers

A State employee facing a long absence with no leave left can receive donated sick or vacation days from colleagues (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22, N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5.1). To be eligible you must have at least one year of continuous State service; have used up all sick, vacation and administrative leave, any sick leave injury benefits and all compensatory time; have no discipline for chronic or excessive absenteeism or lateness, or for leave abuse, in the two years before the need; and have a qualifying reason (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(a)).

The qualifying reasons are a catastrophic health condition or injury of your own, caring for an immediate family member with one, or an absence to donate an organ, bone marrow included. Catastrophic means life-threatening, or a period of disability a physician verifies will require 60 or more work days away (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(b)). The statute also lists a pregnancy disability that a physician verifies needs 30 or more work days, before or after delivery, a ground the rule's list does not carry (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5.1, subsection a(4)(d)). Both texts do define a catastrophic condition of your own to include a period of disability required by the health of your fetus that a physician verifies needs 60 or more work days (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(b)1ii, N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5.1, subsection i).

The numbers are fixed. You need at least five donated days to take part and can receive no more than 260, never retroactively. A donor gives whole days only, no more than 30 to one person, must keep at least 20 sick days or 12 vacation days after giving, and cannot take a donation back (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(d)). While you use donated time you keep accruing your own sick and vacation leave, and unused donated days go back to the donors on a prorated basis when you return (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(e)). Nobody may threaten or coerce an employee over giving, receiving or using donated leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(f)).

A local employer may run its own program on the same lines, but only with the Chairperson's approval (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.22(g)). Without an approved program there is no donated leave in local service.

Leave without pay and voluntary furlough

No leave of absence, paid or unpaid, may run longer than a year at one time unless the Commission approves a renewal or extension in writing (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-1). The rules carry exceptions: military leave runs for the period of service plus three months after discharge, and union office leave may run as long as the negotiated agreement provides (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.11(d)1, 4A:6-1.10(a)2). In State service an employer may, with the Chairperson's approval, grant a permanent employee up to one year without pay, extendable for exceptional situations (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.10(a)). A nonpermanent career employee can get unpaid leave only for exceptional situations and for no more than six biweekly pay periods, plus up to six more months for personal illness or disability, and that leave can be ended at any time (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.10(a)1). Senior executive and unclassified employees may be given up to a year at the employer's discretion (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.10(b)). A local employer may grant a permanent employee up to a year, with longer periods needing the Chairperson's written approval (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(a)2).

Unpaid time has costs that are easy to miss. Sick days stop accruing (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.3(c)), the time does not count toward your vacation tier (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.2(c)2), and in State service eleven intermittent unpaid days add up to a half-month cut in your vacation and sick credit (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.5(c)). A leave of absence does not disqualify you from a promotional examination (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.1(d), N.J.S.A. 11A:6-15).

A voluntary furlough is the exception that avoids most of that. You may take up to 30 days off without pay in a calendar year, as shorter days, scattered days or a block, and your leave accrual, anniversary date and seniority are treated as if you were in pay status (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.23(a), (c)). It needs written approval first, cannot be used as sick leave or to work another job, and can be extended by up to 60 days for education or family care, with the approval of both the appointing authority and the Chairperson (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.23(c), (d)). Local employers may offer a furlough program only with the Chairperson's approval (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.23(b)).

Other paid leave the rules guarantee

Military leave reaches State and local service. A permanent employee, or a full-time temporary employee with a year of service, in the New Jersey National Guard or organized militia gets up to 90 paid work days a calendar year for federal active duty and unlimited paid leave for State active duty; a member of the federal reserves gets up to 30 paid work days a year for federal active duty. Weekend drills are not active duty, and an employer cannot reschedule your hours on its own to avoid the conflict (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.11(b), (c)). Seniority and salary increments keep accruing during military leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.11(f)).

Organ and bone marrow donors in State or local service get paid leave in addition to any other leave: up to 30 days for an organ or part of one and up to five days for bone marrow (N.J.S.A. 11A:6-5.2). State career and senior executive employees get paid leave for jury duty scheduled during work hours, commuting time included, on written verification from the court (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.19). State employees may also take up to 20 paid hours a year to volunteer in a school activity such as tutoring or reading to children, requested in advance (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.24(a)).

When a leave decision goes against you

The route depends on the kind of decision. In State service a grievance is a complaint about a term or condition of employment beyond your control that management can remedy, and the Commission's grievance procedure covers career and unclassified employees (N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.1(b), (e)2). Where your union contract has its own procedure, a matter the contract covers exclusively goes there instead (N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.1(g)). Local service is outside that subchapter, so a local employee uses whatever procedure the employer and the contract set (N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.1(d)).

A disapproved SCOR application comes with written reasons and notice of your right to appeal to the Civil Service Commission (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-3.4(d)2). Unless a rule sets another period, an appeal has to be filed in writing within 20 days of when you knew or should have known of the decision (N.J.A.C. 4A:2-1.1(b)). FMLA complaints go to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-1.21B(g)4). If a telework day is the issue, note that using telework in place of accrued leave for personal matters is a ground for revoking telework; the State telework guide explains that process, and the workplace rights overview compares the appeal routes.

Other workplace rights guides

This guide is one of a set on the rules that govern working for a New Jersey civil service employer. Start at the workplace rights overview for how the different appeal routes fit together.

• Telework in State service

  The two-day limit, the thirteen eligibility criteria, how denials and revocations are decided, and the three ways to challenge one.

• Discipline and removal

  Major and minor discipline, notice and hearing before a penalty, the 20-day appeal and what you recover if you win.

• Layoffs

  The 45-day notice, how seniority is counted, lateral and demotional rights, special reemployment lists and the two layoff appeals.

• Pay, steps and overtime

  How steps and anniversary dates work, pay on promotion, demotion and reclassification, overtime categories, comp time and holiday pay.

• The working test period

  How long the probation period lasts, the progress reports, what happens at the end, and the appeal if you are let go.

• Classification appeals

  Out-of-title work, asking for a position review, what reclassification does to pay and status, and the 20-day appeal.

• Certification and removal from a list

  What a certification holds, how the employer disposes of it, the grounds for removing a name, list expiration and revival, and the 20-day appeal.

• Veterans preference

  Who qualifies, how the Adjutant General decides status, and how preference orders open competitive, promotional and noncompetitive appointments and layoffs.