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N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.7 Priority of eligible lists

N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.7, Priority of eligible lists. When there is more than one current eligible list for a title, the priority of the lists shall be as follows: 1. Special reemployment, when the available po Full text with 5 recorded amendments, 5 citing decisions, cited by 1 other rule.

Selection and Appointment · Eligible Lists

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

Where more than one current list exists for a title, the order is fixed, and special reemployment appears in it twice. First is special reemployment where the available position is in the department or autonomous agency the eligible was laid off, laterally displaced or demoted in lieu of layoff from. Then promotional. Then special reemployment where the position is anywhere else. Then regular reemployment together with police, sheriff's officer and fire reemployment. Open competitive is last. Two things sit above the whole order except a special reemployment list: reinstatement of a permanent employee following disability retirement, and reemployment of certain law enforcement officers and firefighters under 4A:4-3.9 and 4A:4-3.10. An existing open competitive or promotional list does not bar an intergovernmental transfer into that jurisdiction. Autonomous agency has a defined meaning here: in local service a body corporate with the powers of an appointing authority by statute, and in State service one that is by law in but not under the supervision of a principal department.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.7. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) When there is more than one current eligible list for a title, the priority of the lists shall be as follows: #

1. Special reemployment, when the available position/title is in the department or autonomous agency from which the eligible was laid off, laterally displaced or demoted in lieu of layoff; #

2. Promotional; #

3. Special reemployment, when the available position/title is located in a department or autonomous agency other than that from which the eligible was laid off, laterally displaced or demoted in lieu of layoff; #

4. Regular reemployment, police, sheriff's officer, or fire reemployment; and #

5. Open competitive. #

(b) Reinstatement of a permanent employee following disability retirement shall have priority over appointment from any eligible list, except a special reemployment list. See N.J.A.C. 4A:4-7.12. #

(c) The existence of an open competitive or promotional list in a jurisdiction receiving an employee in an intergovernmental transfer in accordance with N.J.A.C. 4A:4-7.1A shall not be a bar to such transfer. #

(d) Reemployment of certain law enforcement officers and firefighters pursuant to the provisions of N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.9 and 4A:4-3.10 shall have priority over appointment from any eligible list, except a special reemployment list. #

(e) For purposes of this section, an autonomous agency in local service is one which, by statute, is a body corporate and has the powers of an appointing authority. In State service, an autonomous agency is one which, by law, is in but not under the supervision of a principal department. #

Amendment history

Rule numbers, effective dates and New Jersey Register citations as published. 5 recorded changes.

  1. AmendedR.2017 d.142
    49 N.J.R. 492(a); 49 N.J.R. 2239(a)
  2. AmendedR.2001 d.420
    33 N.J.R. 2567(a); 33 N.J.R. 3895(b)
  3. AmendedR.1996 d.471
    28 N.J.R. 3208(a); 28 N.J.R. 4423(a)
  4. AmendedR.1993 d.270
    25 N.J.R. 1085(b); 25 N.J.R. 2509(a)
  5. AmendedR.1992 d.338
    24 N.J.R. 2107(a); 24 N.J.R. 3091(b)

How this rule has been applied

5 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.7. 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.

Appellate Division (1)
  • Klawitter v. City of Trenton395 N.J. Super. 302; 928 A.2d 900
Civil Service Commission final determinations (4)

Commission decisions citing 4A:4-3.7

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

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