N.J.A.C. 4A:10-1.2 Political activity
N.J.A.C. 4A:10-1.2, Political activity. No employee in the career or senior executive service shall directly or indirectly use or seek to use his or her position to control or affect the political Full text with 1 recorded amendment, 1 citing decision.
Current through New Jersey Register, Vol. 58 No. 14, July 20, 2026. Reviewed as of July 26, 2026.
This is an annotated mirror, not the official publication. Verify against the Civil Service Commission before relying on it.
In plain language
Two restrictions, and the first is narrower than people assume. A career or senior executive service employee may not use, or seek to use, their position to control or affect the political action of another person, and may not engage in political activity during working hours. The rule reaches the use of the position and the use of work time. On its own terms it does not restrict what an employee does politically on their own time in their own name. The second restriction is federal and catches a different group: any career, senior executive or unclassified employee whose principal employment is connected with a programme financed wholly or partly by Federal grants or loans. Those employees may not use official authority or influence to interfere with or affect an election or nomination, may not coerce, command or even advise a State, county or municipal officer or employee to contribute anything of value for political purposes, and, where the salary is paid completely by Federal funds, may not be a candidate for elective office, subject to listed exceptions.
Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:10-1.2. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.
(a) No employee in the career or senior executive service shall directly or indirectly use or seek to use his or her position to control or affect the political action of another person or engage in political activity during working hours. See N.J.S.A. 11A:2-23. #
(b) No employee in the career, senior executive, or unclassified services whose principal employment is in connection with a program financed in whole or in part by Federal grants or loans, shall engage in any of the following prohibited activities under the Hatch Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 1501 et seq.): #
1. Use official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or nomination for office; #
2. Directly or indirectly coerce, attempt to coerce, command, or advise a State, county, or municipal officer or employee to pay, lend, or contribute anything of value to a party, committee, organization, agency, or person for political purposes; or #
3. Be a candidate for elective office, if the salary of the employee is paid completely, directly or indirectly, by Federal grants or loans, except that this prohibition shall not apply to: #
i. The Governor or Lieutenant Governor or an individual authorized by law to act as Governor; #
ii. The mayor of a city; #
iii. A duly elected head of an executive department of the State or a municipality, which office does not fall under the Civil Service Act at Title 11A, New Jersey Statutes; or #
iv. An individual holding elective office. #
(c) The office of the Special Counsel of the United States Merit Systems Protection Board has responsibility for the investigation of Hatch Act matters. #
Amendment history
Rule numbers, effective dates and New Jersey Register citations as published. 1 recorded change.
- AmendedR.2015 d.19047 N.J.R. 1377(a); 47 N.J.R. 2977(a)
How this rule has been applied
1 decision has cited N.J.A.C. 4A:10-1.2. The list below is citations to those decisions, not the decisions. We have not written summaries for this section. A citation with no summary is deliberate: we do not paraphrase a decision we have not read. Nothing here is legal advice.
Superior Court (1)
- Fitzgerald v. Mathesius136 N.J.Super. 93; 344 A.2d 348