N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.6 Conduct and scheduling of hearings and grievance meetings: State service

In plain language

Paid time to attend, unpaid time to prepare. The employee, the employee agent and the witnesses all get time off with pay from their regular duties to take part in a hearing or grievance meeting, including reasonable travel time, and the rule stops the paid time precisely there: it does not extend to time needed to prepare the grievance. Departmental management schedules these during regular work hours as far as possible. At least one hearing is guaranteed before Step Two concludes unless the matter was resolved at Step One, and a department may also hold a grievance meeting at either step, or advance a grievance straight to Step Two on timely notice. A hearing and a meeting are different rooms. At a hearing the employee may bring legal counsel, an authorized union representative, another agent the appointing authority agrees to, or nobody, a reasonable number of relevant witnesses must be permitted on request, and each side speaks through one spokesperson who may present evidence and examine witnesses. A grievance meeting is restricted to a designated supervisor, a department spokesperson, the grievant and the grievant representative, plus any resource person the department permits. All of this is State service.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:2-3.6. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.