Pay Rules in NJ Civil Service

State service or local: who sets your pay

In State service, the Commission establishes and maintains a compensation plan for everyone in the career and unclassified services, made up of pay rates and a series of salary ranges. Each employee is paid within the range or at the rate assigned to their job title, and pay is adjusted under the State rules in N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4 unless a law, rule or Commission action provides otherwise (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.1(d)). The statute behind it directs the Commission to administer an equitable State compensation plan with pay schedules and standards for salary adjustments (N.J.S.A. 11A:3-7, subsection a).

That plan cannot simply be rewritten over a union's head. Before the State adopts a change to the compensation plan that affects employees with a majority representative, it has to negotiate with that representative in good faith, and the plan may be amended only through a written agreement reached in those negotiations (N.J.S.A. 11A:3-7, subsection b).

Local service works differently. A local appointing authority sets up its own compensation plan, which must pay employees in reasonable relationship to their job titles, and it sends a current copy to the Commission along with any change within 20 days of adopting it (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.1(a)). Where a range exists for a title, nobody in it may be paid a base salary below the minimum or above the maximum (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.1(a)2, N.J.S.A. 11A:3-7, subsection d). Local overtime is paid under standards the employer prepares and administers in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.1(a)), and local hours of work are set by the employer, subject to negotiations (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-2.1(a)). The step, anniversary-date and overtime rules in the rest of this guide are written for State service. The local service hub covers the rest of the local picture.

On both sides, the Commission may audit an employer's payroll records for compliance with Title 11A, Title 4A and its own orders (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.1(b), N.J.S.A. 11A:3-8).

How a State title gets its salary range

Every new State title is evaluated, and existing titles reevaluated, under the New Jersey Job Content Evaluation System, and that evaluation produces the title's class code (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.2(a)). The class code is not yet the salary range. The range is then set from the title's workweek and work year (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.2(b)):

• NL and NE titles get a range equal to the class code.
• 35-hour and 3E titles get a range one lower than the class code.
• 40-hour, 4E and N4 titles get a range one higher.
• 10-month titles get a range three lower.

This is why two titles of the same class code can sit on different ranges. The Chairperson may also designate a title as no-range, with no class code, or give it a single rate (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.2(a)). Senior Executive Service positions are no-range: advancement is based on performance, with no steps and no increments for length of service (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-2.5(a), (c)).

A new employee, meaning someone with no immediate prior State service with that appointing authority, can be placed at any step up to and including the fourth step of the title's range (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.4(a)). Someone who comes straight from another State department, a State college, Rutgers, NJIT or UMDNJ with no break in service can be placed up to the step they would have reached had they worked continuously in the new agency (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.4(b)). For some titles the Chairperson sets an authorized hiring rate instead, and when one is set or raised, current employees in the title who earn less are moved up to it (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.4(c)).

What each step is worth in dollars depends on your schedule and range. Look it up on the compensation compendium rather than estimating it.

Anniversary dates and the yearly increment

In State service, your anniversary date is the biweekly pay period in which you become eligible for a salary increase, if your performance warrants it and you have room left in the range (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5(a)). It is assigned when you are first appointed: the first pay period after you complete 26 full pay periods, with dates in a year of 27 pay periods set from a schedule the Commission issues (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5(a)1). The move from step eight to step nine is slower, and comes only after 39 pay periods at step eight (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5(a)3). The payroll calendar shows where each pay period falls.

The increment is not automatic. For employees in the State Performance Assessment Review program, an annual rating below Successful means the anniversary date increment is denied (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-5.3(a)). Where the denial followed an Unsatisfactory rating and performance later improves, the department can ask for the increment, but if the Chairperson approves it, it cannot take effect until a pay period beginning at least 90 days after the anniversary date. On a five-level scale, an employee rated Two who shows improved performance within 90 days of the rating has the increment restored retroactively (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-5.3(a)1). The PAR program covers the State career service and whichever unclassified titles a department designates (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-5.1(b)).

Unpaid time pushes the date back. Time in non-pay status, suspensions included, does not count toward increment eligibility: the anniversary date moves one full pay period for each full pay period unpaid, or one pay period for every 10 working days of scattered unpaid days in a calendar year (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.6(a)). Fewer than 10 scattered days do not carry into the next year (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.6(d)), and your department has to tell you in writing when your date is changing (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.6(c)).

Nine kinds of unpaid time do not move it: military leave, educational leave, the two unscheduled months in a 10-month title, days a part-time employee is not scheduled, leave without pay after sick leave injury runs out, leave without pay while receiving workers' compensation, leave without pay under a voluntary alternative to layoff program, voluntary furlough and furlough extension leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.6(b)).

A promotion can also reset the date, as the next sections explain, and a trainee, apprentice, recruit or intern gets a new one on regular appointment to the primary title (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5(b), (c)).

What happens to your pay when you change titles

In State service, the class code of your new title compared with your old one decides which pay rule applies, including when the only change is your workweek or work year (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.7).

A lateral move is not a promotion or a demotion even when the salary changes, which can happen when the new title has a different workweek. You go to the same step in the new range and keep your anniversary date (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.8(a), (b)).

A transfer or reassignment within State service keeps your rate of compensation and your anniversary date (N.J.A.C. 4A:4-7.4(b)). A move from a title with no range or a single rate into a ranged title works differently. If you served four months or more and the Commission finds the earlier service gave you significant experience and training for the new one, your salary goes up to the step equal to or next above it, and your anniversary date follows when you would have been eligible for an increase in the old title. Otherwise your salary is reconstructed, but never set higher than the no-range salary, and a salary above the new maximum is red circled (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.12(a) to (c)).

Pay on promotion

The promotion rule starts with a carve-out: a collective negotiations agreement can set a different adjustment, and where none does, the State rule applies (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(a)). Under that rule, you get a raise equal to at least one increment in your old range plus whatever it takes to reach the next higher step in the new range (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(b)). That full adjustment applies when:

• you are appointed from your permanent title to the higher title following, or subject to, a promotional examination;
• your title is reevaluated to a higher class code; or
• the Chairperson finds you served continuously in the lower title for at least four months immediately before the advancement, and that service gave you significant preparation and training for the higher one.

If none of those fits, you are placed on the step in the higher range that equals or is next above your current salary (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(e)). When the new title sits on a different salary schedule, the calculation is done in your old schedule first, and you land on the lowest step in the new schedule that equals or exceeds the result (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(c)). Someone who has been at the top of the old range for at least 39 pay periods, and whose raise would come to less than two increments, gets one more increment in the new range, unless already at its maximum (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(d)). Whatever route applies, the adjustment can never produce a higher salary than the section provides (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(a)).

Your anniversary date survives a small promotion and resets on a large one. If the total raise is less than two increments in your previous range, you keep the date. If it is two increments or more, or the promotion lands you on step eight or nine, the new date is determined by the promotion's effective date, and the rule marks it frozen at step eight or nine (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(f)). A reset date is the first pay period after 26 full pay periods from the adjustment, not the promotion date itself (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5(b)). A work year change is adjusted before anything else, by a three-range shift (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(h)). A workweek increase is adjusted before the salary is figured, and any workweek change before the anniversary date is set, using the workweek chart (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9(b), (g)).

Pay on demotion and when a title is reevaluated down

A disciplinary demotion takes one increment off your salary in the higher range, then sets you on the step in the lower range equal to or next lower than that figure (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.10(a)). An involuntary demotion in lieu of removal because you lost a qualification, the rule's example being a truck driver whose license is suspended, is figured the same way, and if you later return to the old title you can be appointed up to the step you held before (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.10(b)). Disciplinary demotion itself is covered in the discipline guide.

Other demotions are rounded the other way: one increment off, then the step equal to or next HIGHER in the lower range. That kinder rounding applies only if you served at least 12 months in the higher title and you held the lower title before, are being demoted in lieu of layoff, or the Chairperson finds the higher title prepared you for the lower one. If not, your salary is reconstructed as though you had stayed in, or been appointed to, the lower title all along (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.10(c)). The layoffs guide covers demotional rights in a layoff.

For non-disciplinary demotions to a title below the class code of your permanent title, the department has to give 45 days' notice, except for voluntary demotions and demotions in lieu of removal (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.10(d)). The demotion rule cannot be used to raise anyone's pay, with two exceptions: a move from a managerial to a non-managerial title where the annual salary regulation provides an increase, and an increase that comes from a workweek change (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.10(e)).

When a whole title is reevaluated to a lower class code, or eliminated and its incumbents placed in a lower title, nobody's base salary is cut. The part above the nearest lower step is carried as extra salary until your anniversary date, when you move to the next step, if performance warrants, in place of the normal increment. If your salary is above the new maximum you are red circled, meaning frozen there until the maximum catches up (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.11(a)). The change takes effect the first pay period 60 days after the determination, and employees and their negotiations representatives get at least 45 days' notice (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.11(a)1, 2). The same extra-salary and red-circle treatment applies to anyone whose salary is not on a step (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.13).

Reclassification and title reevaluation

These are two different requests, and people mix them up. A reclassification is about one position: your duties have changed so much that your title no longer fits them. A reevaluation is about a title: the work of everyone in it has changed, so the title's class code, and with it the range, should move.

Nobody may be assigned duties outside those that belong to their title, unless a law or rule allows it (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.4). When the duties of a position drift far enough that the title no longer fits, the Chairperson or designee reclassifies it, creates a new title, or takes other action (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.5(a)). After a reclassification determination the appointing authority has 30 days, unless the Chairperson extends it for good cause, to make the change, give you duties that match your current title, or return you to the duties of the title in which you hold permanent rights, and any resulting promotion, demotion or lateral move follows the ordinary pay rules (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.5(c)1). So a successful review can end with the extra duties removed and no change in pay.

A State employee or union petitions in writing with a position classification questionnaire naming the title they think fits. A Commission representative's decision letter is due within 180 days of receiving the petition and all required documentation, and a further appeal to the Commission goes in within 20 days of the decision letter (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.9(c), (e)). If an appeal is granted, State pay changes from the pay period immediately after 14 days from when the Commission first received the appeal or request, and local pay from the date it was first received, unless the Commission directs an earlier date (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.9(e)3).

A title reevaluation in State service can be requested by the department, or appealed for by an employee or union. An employee appeal goes through the agency representative and has to show the substantive changes in job content with a marked-up job specification, plus evidence that the change affects every employee in the title (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.3(b)). A Commission representative decides in writing within 60 days of receiving all required information, any affected employee or representative may appeal to the Commission within 20 days, and an approved reevaluation takes effect the first full pay period after a fully documented request or appeal was received (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.3(c), (d), (g)).

Your workweek code decides your overtime

State overtime rules cover the career, senior executive and unclassified services (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.1(b)), and almost every answer turns on two letters in the compensation plan. A fixed workweek title has a regular, supervised schedule and is set at 35 or 40 hours (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-2.2). A non-limited title has irregular or variable hours (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-2.3). Separately, a covered position is subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act and an exempt position is excluded from it (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.2).

Overtime is paid on one of two bases, and they are not the same number. Base salary is your rate of pay without additional payments or allowances. Regular rate is the hourly proration of your annual base salary plus the fair market value of goods and facilities received as part of wages, and for covered titles it includes a clothing allowance unless the allowance is for prescribed clothing the employer requires. NE employees are treated as working a 40-hour week for that proration (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.2).

A position can be exempt even if its title is covered, when its own duties meet the exemption criteria (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.4(b)). If you think your position or title is designated wrongly, the last section of this guide sets out the appeal.

How State overtime is paid

Hours from 35 up to 40. If your title is 35 or 3E, work beyond your regular workweek up to 40 hours can earn overtime (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(a)1). Three conditions apply: you were in pay status for all your regular hours that week, you worked at least one hour beyond them, and the work is covered by your title's job specification, apart from declared emergencies (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(c)). Payment is cash or compensatory time off, at the appointing authority's discretion with the Chairperson's approval; cash is one and one-half times the hourly proration of base salary, and comp time is one and one-half hours per hour (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(d)1). Work is credited in half-hour units of continuous work beyond the regular day (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(d)3). Part-time employees qualify only for work beyond the full-time workweek of their title, and temporary employees are outside this section (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(a)5, (b)).

Hours over 40 in a covered title. Employees in 35, 40 and NE titles can be paid in cash or comp time, at the department head's discretion with the Chairperson's approval, for time over 40 hours a week. Comp time in place of cash has to be permitted by a negotiated agreement or, for an employee with no negotiations representative, by an agreement made before the overtime is worked (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(a)1). Cash is one and one-half times the regular rate, and comp time is one and one-half hours per hour (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(b)2, 3). Here work is credited in six-minute units (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(b)8). Temporary employees are entitled to this overtime unless their duties meet the exemption criteria (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(a)4).

Comp time has a ceiling and a cash value. Employees in public safety, emergency response or seasonal activity can accrue up to 480 hours, and everyone else up to 240 (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(b)4). Accrued comp time paid out in cash is paid at your regular rate at the time of payment; when employment ends, unused comp time is paid at no less than the higher of your average regular rate over your last three years or your final regular rate (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(b)5). The Chairperson can approve longer work periods for covered law enforcement and fire protection employees, and a hospital or residential care facility, under a prior agreement with affected employees and with the Chairperson's approval, can use a 14-day period with overtime after eight hours a day or 80 in the period (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.5(a)2, 3, (b)7).

Hours over 40 in an exempt fixed title. 3E and 4E employees can receive cash or comp time, at the department head's discretion with the Chairperson's approval, both at one and one-half times; the cash is based on the hourly proration of base salary (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6(a)1, (b)1). A 4E employee in an approved alternative workweek program may earn overtime beyond 80 hours in a 14-day period (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6(a)2).

NL and N4 titles. These carry no entitlement to cash overtime, except in an exceptional emergency declared under N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.7(d), which reaches only titles with ranges below range 32 (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6(a)3, 4A:3-5.7(d)1). What the appointing authority may grant, at its discretion, is flexible work time or comparable time off for unusual work time, capped at one hour for each hour. Commissioners and department heads, assistant and deputy commissioners, division directors or equivalents, employees in exempt titles not represented in negotiations with ranges at or above range 32, and those in exempt single-rate or no-range titles paid at or above the first step of range 32 cannot be granted even that (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6(b)2). The same discretionary time-off arrangement covers NL and NE employees for hours under 40 (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.3(d)2). Unused comparable time off is not paid out in cash when you leave (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6(b)3, 4A:3-5.3(d)4).

On call, training, travel and emergencies

On call. If you are in a covered position and must stay on call in a way that stops you using the time as your own, that time counts as hours worked. Being asked only to stay home or leave word where you can be reached does not count, unless your freedom to do personal things is severely restricted. Overtime on that time starts only once total hours pass 40 in the week, and exempt positions have no entitlement to pay for it (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.7(a)).

Training and travel. Required job-related training counts as hours worked for covered employees, and so does required travel contiguous to the workday beyond normal commuting time. In both cases time-and-a-half begins after 40 hours, and between 35 and 40 hours the appointing authority may grant hour-for-hour cash or time off. 3E and 4E employees may be granted hour-for-hour compensation at the appointing authority's discretion, and NL and N4 employees have no entitlement (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.7(b), (c)).

Exceptional emergencies. When an agency head declares an exceptional emergency involving a critical service disruption that endangers health or safety, they may authorize cash overtime for non-limited employees in titles with ranges below range 32 doing emergency work, treating them as working a 40-hour week, and overtime for work outside the job specification. Reports justifying the declaration and listing who worked are due to the Chairperson within seven days of the declaration and within 30 days of the emergency ending. Snow removal, emergency maintenance and construction in hazardous conditions are handled instead by emergency condition rates the Chairperson sets (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.7(d)).

Special project rates. Occasional work you choose to do in a different capacity from your regular job is left out of the overtime count and may be paid at a special project rate the Chairperson approves; NL and N4 employees doing extraordinary work in their own capacity may be paid one too (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.7(e)). The Chairperson issues annual updates to the plan covering temporary employees' pay, special project compensation, emergency rates and other allowances (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.19).

Holidays: time off and working on one

A holiday means a legal holiday or a special holiday authorized by law or executive order (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.2). In State service, full-time employees get those days off with regular pay, and part-time employees who work a constant share of a full week get proportionate holiday credit. A holiday falling on a Saturday is observed the Friday before, and one falling on a Sunday the Monday after. To be paid for the holiday you must be in pay status on the day before it (N.J.A.C. 4A:6-2.4(a), (c), (d)).

If you work on a holiday in a fixed workweek title, full-time or part-time, you are entitled to overtime compensation on top of your regular pay for all the work you do that day, even if you were not in pay status for the whole week (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.8(a)). You and your department can instead agree that you work the holiday in exchange for a specified day off of your choosing; if you are then made to work that day, it is paid as though it were the holiday (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.8(d)).

In a seven-day coverage operation, a holiday on your regular workday works the same way, but if you do not report for duty that day you get neither overtime nor a substitute day. A holiday on your regular day off gives you another day off in the same week, and being called in on that substitute day for an emergency earns overtime (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.8(c)).

Non-limited titles are not entitled to overtime for holiday work, except as N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.6 allows, though anyone below agency head may be given comparable time off up to hour for hour at the appointing authority's discretion (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.8(b)). Temporary employees get neither holiday overtime nor pay for a holiday not worked, unless a negotiated contract provides it, though the holiday rule keeps the overtime a temporary employee is owed for hours over 40 (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.8(e), 4A:3-5.5(a)4).

Authorizing overtime, and challenging a pay decision

Each State department must have written overtime procedures, filed with and approved by the Chairperson, that require written authorization before overtime is worked, or immediately afterward when advance approval is not possible, and records of approved requests and the work done (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.9(a), (b)).

Whether your position is exempt or covered can be appealed. A position designation appeal follows this sequence (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.10(b)):

1. File with your department. Submit the appeal in writing to the appointing authority through the personnel office, naming the specific duties at issue, with a Classification Questionnaire signed by you and your supervisor. If you want a different status, explain why it fits the duties better.
2. Department decides. The appointing authority has 20 days to decide in writing, with the duties, findings, conclusions and a determination. If no decision arrives in 20 days, you can appeal within 10 days of the last day it was due.
3. Second level at the Commission. Send the second-level appeal to the Civil Service Commission with your original appeal, the questionnaire and any decision letter, saying what you contest and why. The Commission may order an audit and issues a written decision within 20 days.
4. Final appeal. A final appeal to the Commission goes in writing within 20 days of the prior decision, with the earlier decisions attached. Its decision is the final administrative decision.

An appeal about a whole title's status can be filed by the appointing authority or an affected employee directly with the Commission (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.10(c)). Other overtime payment disputes may go through the grievance process (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-5.10(d)), which in State service covers employees in the career and unclassified services, is not used for a matter that has its own specific appeal, and does not review a matter covered exclusively by a negotiated agreement (N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.1(e)2, (f), (g)).

Two money rules round this out. If you were overpaid in error, the Commission may waive repayment in whole or part, or adjust the schedule, considering whether you could reasonably have been unaware of the error, whether it came from a specific administrative error rather than mere processing delay, and whether repayment would cause economic hardship; you or your department request a waiver as a written record appeal (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.21, N.J.S.A. 11A:3-7, subsection c). And a personnel action with a retroactive effective date pays only employees still on a State payroll when the retroactive payment is made, plus those who retire or die during the retroactive period (N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.20).

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.

• Vacation, sick and family leave

  How much leave you earn, what happens to unused days, sick leave at retirement, family leave, and the State and local split.

• 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.

• 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.