N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.7 Removal of names

Your name was removed from the eligible list

Eleven grounds are listed, and the first is a cross-reference rather than a ground of its own: every cause for denying examination eligibility or appointment permits removal from a list as well. The rest are specific. Regular appointment through certification to the title, though appointment to a lower title is not cause. Inability, unavailability or refusal to accept appointment. A criminal record that adversely relates to the employment sought. Notice from the postal authorities that they cannot locate or deliver mail to you. Non-compliance with the instructions on the notice of certification. Ending your residence in a jurisdiction an examination was limited to, or in a title requiring continuous residency. Leaving the unit scope a promotional examination was limited to. Failure to maintain interest in a geographical area or choice. And other valid reasons as determined by the Chairperson.

One of the eleven is not a ground at all. Item nine says employees who are involuntarily transferred shall be retained on a promotional list until they have had the opportunity to take a promotional examination in the new unit scope or have been appointed from the list. It sits in a list of reasons for removal and it does the opposite of the other ten.

The criminal record ground is the one most often argued, and it is a test rather than a fact. Five factors decide whether a record adversely relates to the employment sought: the nature and seriousness of the crime, the circumstances in which it occurred, the date of the crime and your age at the time, whether it was an isolated event, and evidence of rehabilitation. Presenting a pardon or an expungement prohibits removal outright, except for law enforcement, correction officer, correctional police officer, juvenile detention officer, firefighter and judiciary titles, and any other titles the Chairperson determines. For those titles the pardon or expungement does not close the question.

The appointing authority carries obligations of its own, and they are enforceable. It must submit every document and argument supporting the removal request to a Commission representative no later than the date for disposition of the certification. On your request, or on your appeal, it must give you copies of everything it sent. Failure to provide either the Commission representative or you with those materials may result in the request being denied. A Commission representative then decides whether the grounds are sufficient, notifies both sides, and has to advise you of your appeal rights.

The appeal runs through the examination and selection procedures, where the burden of proof is on you, and filing it does not stop the list being promulgated, a certification being issued or somebody else being appointed. The 20-day filing period and the requirement to file with the representative named on the notice sit in a different section again. A removal sought for medical or psychological reasons goes somewhere else entirely, with its own 20-day appeal, a 90-day window to submit a report from a professional of your own choosing, and the burden of proof on the appointing authority instead.

Three things are not removal, and they are worth separating from it. Accepting or refusing a temporary or interim appointment is expressly not cause. An eligible who declines an appointment may ask in writing to have their name withheld from future certifications until available rather than taken off. And somebody removed for leaving a promotional unit scope may ask in writing for restoration on returning to it within current continuous service. Two mechanical consequences follow any removal: every name below yours moves up a rank, and where the Commission accepted a single application covering more than one jurisdiction or title area, removal for cause from one pool removes you from all of them.

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.