N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.1 Types of eligible lists

How long does my eligible list live, and where am I on it

Five kinds of list exist, and which one you are on decides both how long it lasts and how you are ordered within it. Open competitive lists hold all qualified eligibles after examination. Promotional lists hold permanent employees who meet the qualification requirements. Regular reemployment lists hold former permanent employees who resigned in good standing, took a general resignation, retired or voluntarily demoted, where the appointing authority certifies that reemployment is in the best interests of the service. Police, sheriff's officer and fire reemployment lists are the uniformed equivalent. Special reemployment lists hold people laid off, laterally displaced or demoted in lieu of layoff.

Duration is not uniform. Open competitive and promotional lists are promulgated for three years from establishment unless the Chairperson decides a shorter period fits the circumstances, and may be extended for good cause before expiry, but no list may run longer than four years. A name may not stay on a regular reemployment list more than three years from the date of resignation. Special, police, sheriff's officer and fire reemployment lists have unlimited durations.

Order works differently on each type. On an open competitive list, where the announcement covered more than one local jurisdiction, the list is first split into sub-lists by residency requirements, and within each one the order is disabled veterans by score, then veterans by score, then non-veterans by score. Promotional lists are in score order regardless of veteran status, with veterans placed first inside a tied rank. Special reemployment lists rank by descending class code of the title you were displaced from, and only then by seniority. Regular and uniformed reemployment lists rank by seniority in the title you left.

When more than one current list exists for a title, priority is fixed: special reemployment within the department or autonomous agency you were laid off from, then promotional, then special reemployment elsewhere, then regular and uniformed reemployment, then open competitive. An open competitive list can sit behind three other lists and still be perfectly alive.

Getting back onto a list is several separate mechanisms rather than one. If you were separated during or at the end of a working test period for unsatisfactory performance, or resigned in good standing then, you may request restoration, decided on whether you are suitable for appointment elsewhere; removal for disciplinary reasons bars it. If you declined an appointment, you may ask in writing to have your name withheld from certifications until you are available rather than removed outright. If you left the promotional unit scope, your name can be restored on written request when you return within current continuous service. An expired list can be revived only for the listed reasons, such as implementing a court order or a Commission order, or correcting an administrative error.

Two practical points sit in the fine print. Keeping a current address on file with the Commission is your responsibility, and notice from the postal authorities that they cannot locate or deliver mail to you is itself a stated ground for removal. And nothing sets a date by which a certification must be requested, so how long you wait depends on when an appointing authority asks for one.

Related on this site: /eligibility-lists, /civil-service-exam

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.