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N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5 Anniversary dates: State service

N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5, Anniversary dates: State service. An anniversary date is the biweekly pay period in which an employee is eligible, if warranted by performance and place in the salary range, for a salary inc Full text with 3 recorded amendments, 3 citing decisions, cited by 1 other rule.

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

An anniversary date is the biweekly pay period in which an employee becomes eligible for a salary increase, if performance warrants it and their place in the range allows it. Eligibility, not entitlement, and the wording carries both conditions. The default cycle is 26 full pay periods: the initial anniversary date is the first pay period after 26 full pay periods have run from appointment, and years containing 27 pay periods are handled by a schedule the Commission issues. One step is longer than the rest. An employee sitting on the eighth step becomes eligible for the ninth only after 39 pay periods. Anniversary dates move for several reasons, including an advancement pay adjustment that can restart the count from the date of the adjustment, and time spent in non-pay status. Trainees, apprentices, recruits and interns get a fresh 26 pay period count from the date of regular appointment to the primary title. Intermittent employees count hours instead, 1827 or 2088 depending on the workweek code.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) An anniversary date is the biweekly pay period in which an employee is eligible, if warranted by performance and place in the salary range, for a salary increase. #

1. An employee's anniversary date shall be assigned upon initial appointment to the first pay period following the completion of 26 full pay periods after appointment. In years which contain 27 pay periods, anniversary dates shall be determined in accordance with a schedule issued by the Civil Service Commission. EXAMPLE: An employee is appointed to a position on Monday, August 17, 2016. The first full pay period following the date of appointment is pay period 19, which begins on August 20, 2016. The employee's anniversary date is pay period 18 in calendar year 2017, expressed as 18/17. #

2. An employee who starts work on the first Tuesday of a pay period immediately following a Monday holiday or special day off shall be assigned the anniversary date of that pay period. #

3. An employee at the eighth step of the range only becomes eligible for advancement to the ninth step, if warranted by performance, following the completion of 39 pay periods. #

(b) A current employee's anniversary date may change as a result of an advancement pay adjustment. See N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9. If the anniversary date is advanced based on the date of adjustment, the new anniversary date is the first pay period following the completion of 26 full pay periods after the date of that adjustment. #

1. An employee's anniversary date may also change as a result of time spent in non-pay status. See N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.6. #

(c) The anniversary date of a trainee, apprentice, recruit or intern shall change as the result of regular appointment to the primary title. See N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.7. The new anniversary date shall be the pay period following completion of 26 full pay periods after the date of regular appointment to the primary title. #

(d) Employees in intermittent titles shall receive initial and subsequent anniversary dates which correspond to the first pay period after completion of 1827 work hours (NL, NE, 35 and 3E titles) or 2088 work hours (40, 4E and N4 titles) in regular pay status. When an employee moves from an intermittent title, 80 hours of service in an intermittent title shall equal one pay period for 40, 4E and N4 titles and 70 hours of service in an intermittent title shall equal one pay period for NL, NE, 35 and 3E titles. #

Your anniversary date came and the raise did not. Where to look

Start with what an anniversary date promises. It is the biweekly pay period in which a State employee becomes eligible for a salary increase, and the rule attaches two conditions to that eligibility: the increase has to be warranted by performance, and there has to be room left in the range. An employee already on the top step has no increment to receive, and one moving from step eight to step nine waits 39 pay periods at step eight rather than the usual 26.

Performance is decided by the PAR program, not by this section. An annual rating below Successful, on either the three-level or the five-level scale, means the anniversary date increment is denied. The way back depends on the rating. After an Unsatisfactory, the department can ask for the increment once performance improves, but an approved increment 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 improvement within 90 days of the rating has the increment restored retroactively. Unrepresented employees, and represented employees whose contract has no appeal procedure, challenge a qualifying rating through the noncontractual grievance procedure, with a copy of the PAR attached.

The other common cause is a date that moved. Unpaid time, suspensions included, does not count toward increment eligibility, and the date shifts one full pay period for each full pay period unpaid, or one for every 10 scattered unpaid working days in a calendar year. Nine kinds of unpaid time are exempt, among them military and educational leave, voluntary furlough and leave without pay while receiving workers' compensation. The department has to tell you in writing when your date changes, so a shifted date without a notice is worth asking about.

Finally, a title change can reset the date. A promotion worth two increments or more, or one that lands on step eight or nine, has its new anniversary date determined by the promotion's effective date, while a smaller promotion leaves the old one in place. A reset date is the first pay period after 26 full pay periods from the adjustment, not the promotion date itself. A lateral move never changes it.

Related on this site: /nj-civil-service-pay-rules, /workplace-rights

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team. Every statement here traces to the rules cited on this page. It is not legal advice, and a collective agreement may change how these rules apply to you.

Amendment history

Rule numbers, effective dates and New Jersey Register citations as published. 3 recorded changes.

  1. AmendedR.2017 d.100
    48 N.J.R. 2653(a); 49 N.J.R. 1182(a)
  2. AmendedR.2012 d.043
    43 N.J.R. 2693(a); 44 N.J.R. 449(a)
  3. AmendedR.1993 d.424
    25 N.J.R. 1916(a); 25 N.J.R. 4064(a)

How this rule has been applied

3 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.5. 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 (3)

Commission decisions citing 4A:3-4.5

6 decisions of the Civil Service Commission since January 16, 2019 cite this section (denied 3, granted 2, granted in part 1, as the minutes record the outcome). The newest:

All 6 decisions

This rule points to

Rules that point here

Elsewhere in Compensation