NJ Civil Service Navigator

N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.14 Movement of employees to trainee titles from titles having higher pay rates: State service

N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.14, Movement of employees to trainee titles from titles having higher pay rates: State service. Except as provided in (b) below, an employee with permanent status or with at least six months' continuous service may, at the option of the appointing auth Full text with 2 citing decisio

Classification, Services, and Compensation · Compensation

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

Stepping down into a trainee title need not mean a pay cut, but keeping the salary is the appointing authority option rather than the employee right. An employee with permanent status, or with at least six months of continuous service, may be allowed to hold their existing salary on appointment to a trainee title. It stays there until one of three things happens: the trainee title own rate overtakes it, the employee finishes the training period and moves into the primary title, or the employee is advanced to a higher title. At advancement to the primary title two figures are calculated, one by reconstructing the salary as though the employee had continued in their permanent title throughout the training period and one by the normal trainee advancement, and the employee receives the greater. A ceiling still applies, since the salary may not exceed the maximum step of the primary title.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.14. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) Except as provided in (b) below, an employee with permanent status or with at least six months' continuous service may, at the option of the appointing authority, retain his or her current salary when appointed to a trainee title. The employee shall remain at his or her salary until the salary rate of the trainee title exceeds the employee's salary, the employee advances to the primary title after completing the training period, or the employee is advanced to a higher title. Upon advancement from the trainee title to the primary title, the employee's salary shall be determined by reconstructing the employee's salary as if the employee had continued to serve in his or her permanent title during the training period or by the normal advancement from a trainee to a primary title, whichever is greater. #

(b) An employee in (a) above shall not be paid higher than the maximum step of the primary title. #

How this rule has been applied

2 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.14. 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.

Civil Service Commission final determinations (2)
  • In re Jones, Dep't of Human Servs., CSC Docket No. 2020-12352020 N.J. CSC LEXIS 256Docket 2020-1235
  • In re Phillips, et al., Dep't of the Treas., CSC Docket Nos. 2019-116, et al. (Consolidated)2018 N.J. CSC LEXIS 782Docket 2019-116

Rules that point here

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