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N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9 Advancement pay adjustments: State service

N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9, Advancement pay adjustments: State service. Unless a different salary adjustment is established in a collective negotiations agreement, the following provisions shall be applied when employees are app Full text with 8 recorded amendments, 12 citing decisions, cited by 4 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

Two tiers of raise, and four months of service decides which one applies. The generous formula gives at least one increment in the old title range plus enough to reach the next higher step in the new range. It covers a promotion following or subject to a promotional examination, an employee whose title was reevaluated to a higher class code, and other advancements only where the Chairperson finds the employee served continuously in the lower title for at least four months immediately before the effective date and that the service gave significant preparation and training for the higher title. Miss those conditions and the placement is simply the step that is the same or next higher than the current salary. Workweek and work year adjustments come first: moving from a 35 hour to a 40 hour title shifts the range two places, and moving from a 10 month to a 12 month work year shifts it three. The anniversary date survives a small raise but resets at two increments or more, and freezes at steps eight and nine. A collective negotiations agreement can displace all of this.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) Unless a different salary adjustment is established in a collective negotiations agreement, the following provisions shall be applied when employees are appointed to a title with a higher class code, except that in no event shall such adjustment result in a higher salary than that provided for in this section. #

(b) Employees who are appointed to a title with a higher class code shall receive a salary increase equal to at least one increment in the salary range of the former title plus the amount necessary to place them on the next higher step in the new range. If the workweek changes, workweek adjustments will be made prior to the determination of anniversary date. If the workweek increases, workweek adjustments will be made prior to salary determinations. (See (g) below). This subsection shall apply when the following conditions are met: #

1. Employees are appointed from their permanent title to a title with a higher class code following or subject to a promotional examination; #

2. Employees are serving in a title which is reevaluated to a higher class code; or #

3. Employees are appointed to a title with a higher class code, when the conditions in (b)1, 2, or 3 above are not applicable, provided the Chairperson or designee finds the following criteria are met: #

i. The employee has served continuously in the lower title for at least four months immediately preceding the effective date of the advancement; and #

ii. The service in the lower title provided significant preparation and training for service in the higher title. #

(c) When an employee is advanced to a title with a salary schedule which is different (dollar value of ranges and steps do not coincide) from the employee's previous salary schedule, the steps described in (b) above are first performed in the previous schedule, and then the employee's salary is set at the lowest step in the new schedule and range that equals or exceeds that salary. #

(d) When an employee has been at the maximum of his or her previous salary range for at least 39 pay periods, and the salary increases after workweek adjustment would be less than two increments in the employee's previous range, the employee shall receive an additional increment in the new range, providing the employee is not already at the maximum of the new range. #

(e) Employees who do not meet the criteria set forth in (b) above shall be placed on a step in the salary range of the title with the higher class code that is the same or next higher than the salary paid in the title with the lower class code. #

1. The adjustments described in (c) and (d) above shall be applied as appropriate. #

(f) The anniversary date will be retained if the total salary increase after workweek adjustment is less than two increments in the employee's previous range. If the total salary increase after workweek adjustment is two increments or more, or the advancement results in step eight or nine, the anniversary date will be determined by the effective date of the action (frozen if step eight or nine). #

(g) The workweek adjustment is computed by finding the workweek adjusted range, according to the following chart, and then placing the employee on the same step in the workweek adjusted range as the employee's step in the former range. WORKWEEK OF EMPLOYEE'S NEW TITLE 35 or 3E NL or NE 40, 4E, or N4 35 or 3E NO CHANGE +1 +2 Workweek SALARY SALARY of RANGE RANGES Employee's Former NL or NE -1 NO CHANGE +1 Title SALARY SALARY RANGE RANGE 40, 4E or -2 -1 NO CHANGE N4 SALARY SALARY RANGES RANGE EXAMPLE: An employee on step four in salary range A10 in a 35-hour week title is appointed to a 40-hour week title. Adjusting salary range A10 (35 hours) to the 40-hour week (+2 salary ranges) will result in a range A12, step four. #

(h) When an employee's work year changes, a work year adjustment shall first be performed before making any other adjustments under this section. The work year adjustment is computed by placing the employee in the same step three ranges up, when work year is increased from 10 to 12 months, or three ranges down, when work year is decreased from 12 to 10 months. EXAMPLE: An employee on step four, range A10 in a 10-month title, is promoted to a 12-month title with salary range A15. There is no changes in workweek. The work year adjustment would bring the employee to step four, range A13. Then, salary is calculated based on (a) and (b) above. #

Working out your promotion raise, step by step

Check your contract first. This section applies unless a collective negotiations agreement establishes a different salary adjustment, and it also caps the result: no adjustment under it can produce a higher salary than the section itself provides. If your agreement is silent, the rule below is the one that governs a State promotion.

The question that decides the size of the raise is how you got the higher title. If you were appointed from your permanent title after, or subject to, a promotional examination, or your own title was reevaluated to a higher class code, you receive at least one increment in your old range plus whatever it takes to reach the next higher step in the new range. The same applies to any other advancement where the Chairperson finds you served at least four months continuously in the lower title and that service prepared and trained you for the higher one. Anyone else simply moves to the step in the new range that equals or is next above current pay.

Three refinements change the arithmetic. A change in work year is adjusted before anything else, three ranges up or down. A workweek increase is adjusted before the salary is figured, and any workweek change before the anniversary date is set, by moving to the same step in a range shifted by the workweek chart. A title on a different salary schedule is calculated in your old schedule and then mapped to the lowest step in the new schedule that equals or exceeds it. And if you have sat at the top of your old range for at least 39 pay periods and the raise would be less than two increments, you get one more increment in the new range, unless you are already at its maximum.

Then the anniversary date. Under two increments of raise, you keep it. Two or more, or a landing on step eight or nine, and the new date is determined by the promotion's effective date, and the rule marks it frozen at step eight or nine. The figures for each step are in the published schedules, not in the rule. If a promotion was effected with a retroactive date, the back pay reaches only people still on a State payroll when it is paid, plus anyone who retired or died in the meantime.

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. 8 recorded changes.

  1. AmendedR.2019 d.072
    51 N.J.R. 191(b); 51 N.J.R. 1115(a)
  2. AmendedR.2017 d.100
    48 N.J.R. 2653(a); 49 N.J.R. 1182(a)
  3. AmendedR.2014 d.128
    46 N.J.R. 473(a); 46 N.J.R. 1815(a)
  4. AmendedR.2014 d.099
    45 N.J.R. 500(a); 46 N.J.R. 1331(c)
  5. AmendedR.2011 d.219
    43 N.J.R. 903(a); 43 N.J.R. 2168(a)
  6. AmendedR.1993 d.424
    25 N.J.R. 1916(a); 25 N.J.R. 4064(a)
  7. date not statedPetition for rulemaking
    42 N.J.R. 956(a)
  8. date not statedPetition for rulemaking
    43 N.J.R. 747(b)

How this rule has been applied

12 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:3-4.9. 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 (12)

Commission decisions citing 4A:3-4.9

14 decisions of the Civil Service Commission since January 16, 2019 cite this section (denied 10, granted 3, referred for further review 1, as the minutes record the outcome). The newest:

All 14 decisions

Rules that point here

Elsewhere in Compensation