NJ Civil Service Navigator

N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.8 Disposition of a certification

N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.8, Disposition of a certification. Upon receipt of a certification, an appointing authority shall take whichever of the following actions is appropriate when a permanent appointment is to be Full text with 8 recorded amendments, 150 citing decisions, cited by 1 other rule.

Selection and Appointment · Certification From 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

The rule of three lives here. Given an open competitive or promotional certification, the appointing authority appoints one of the top three interested eligibles, subject to veterans preference: disabled veterans and then veterans are appointed in their order of ranking from an open competitive list, and where the first ranked eligible on a promotional list is a veteran, no non-veteran may be appointed. A reemployment certification leaves no choice, because only the one certified name is there to appoint. The disposition report goes back to the Commission by the disposition due date and names who is being appointed and when, with the salary added in local service. That due date can be pushed past the expiration of the list only to fill vacancies that already exist, and an anticipated vacancy does not count as an existing one. Missing it can produce a constructive appointment or other remedial action. Where the certification would displace a provisional who holds permanent status and layoff procedures have to be started, the appointing authority may ask in writing for another 45 days.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.8. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) Upon receipt of a certification, an appointing authority shall take whichever of the following actions is appropriate when a permanent appointment is to be made: #

1. Appoint the eligible whose name has been certified from the special reemployment list; #

2. Appoint the eligible whose name has been certified from regular or police, sheriff's officer, or fire reemployment lists; or #

3. Appoint one of the top three interested eligibles (rule of three) from an open competitive or promotional list, provided that: #

i. Disabled veterans and then veterans shall be appointed in their order of ranking from an open competitive list; #

ii. If the eligible who ranks first on a promotional list is a veteran, then a non-veteran may not be appointed; and #

iii. See N.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.15(i) for tie scores. #

(b) The appointing authority shall notify the Civil Service Commission of the disposition of the certification by the disposition due date in the manner prescribed by the Chairperson or designee. The disposition due date may be extended beyond the expiration date of the eligible list to fill current vacancies. Under no circumstances shall a disposition due date be extended beyond the expiration date of the eligible list when vacancies do not exist. An anticipated vacancy shall not be considered the same as an existing vacancy. The report of disposition of the certification shall include: #

1. Name of the eligibles to be permanently appointed; #

2. The effective date of the requested permanent appointments; #

3. In local service, the appointee's salary; #

4. In situations where an appropriate list is used, the title and functions of the appointee's employment; #

5. In the case of an appointment to the title of Municipal Court Administrator or Deputy Municipal Court Administrator, verification that the assignment judge of the vicinage has approved the appointment; and #

6. Any other requested information. #

(c) Failure to dispose by the due date may result in constructive appointment or other remedial action as set forth in N.J.A.C. 4A:10-2. #

(d) If the certification will result in the displacement of a provisional employee who has permanent status, and it is necessary to institute layoff procedures, the Chairperson or designee may, upon written request from the appointing authority, extend the time for disposing of the certification for an additional 45 days. See N.J.A.C. 4A:8 for layoff procedures. #

(e) See N.J.A.C. 4A:10-2.2 for penalties for failure to appoint from a complete certification. #

You were on the list and did not get the job

Being reachable is not the same as being appointed, and the arithmetic is worth seeing before the disappointment sets in. A complete certification from an open competitive or promotional list is three interested eligibles for the first permanent appointment, plus one more name for each additional appointment, with tied scores sharing a rank. The appointing authority may then appoint any one of the top three interested eligibles. That is the rule of three, and ranking first does not by itself entitle you to the job.

Three situations override the choice. From a special, regular, police, sheriff's officer or fire reemployment list, one name is certified for each appointment and that person is appointed. From an open competitive list, disabled veterans and then veterans are appointed in their order of ranking. And on a promotional list, if the eligible ranked first is a veteran, a non-veteran may not be appointed.

The appointing authority owes a report, but it owes it to the Commission rather than to you. By the disposition due date it must state who is being appointed, the effective dates, the salary in local service, and other requested information. Failure to dispose on time may result in constructive appointment or other remedial action, and the Commission has its own list of responses to a violation, including ordering the appointment of an eligible from an outstanding list. Nothing in these rules requires the appointing authority to hand a bypassed eligible a written statement of reasons.

That shapes what is actually appealable. Being passed over within the rule of three is the thing the rule permits, so it is not the appealable event. Removal of your name is. An appointing authority seeking removal must submit all documents and arguments to a Commission representative no later than the disposition date, and must give you copies on request or on your appeal; failure to do either may cause the removal request to be denied. The appeal itself runs through the examination and selection appeal procedures.

Repeated bypass does trigger one automatic consequence, though it is a blunt one. A non-veteran certified to the same appointing authority from an open competitive list on three occasions and passed over each time in favor of a lower ranked eligible has their name withheld from future certifications to that authority, and if the authority asks for a recertification, only that eligible and any higher or equal ranking veteran is certified. It protects the list from being ignored indefinitely. It is not a remedy for the three bypasses.

Related on this site: /nj-civil-service-certification-disposition, /eligibility-lists

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.2017 d.142
    49 N.J.R. 492(a); 49 N.J.R. 2239(a)
  2. AmendedR.2012 d.116
    44 N.J.R. 542(a); 44 N.J.R. 1779(a)
  3. AmendedR.2012 d.087
    44 N.J.R. 137(a); 44 N.J.R. 1333(b)
  4. AmendedR.2006 d.104
    37 N.J.R. 4351(a); 38 N.J.R. 1425(a)
  5. AmendedR.1994 d.507
    26 N.J.R. 2697(b); 26 N.J.R. 3941(a)
  6. AmendedR.1993 d.270
    25 N.J.R. 1085(b); 25 N.J.R. 2509(a)
  7. date not statedAdministrative correction
    31 N.J.R. 1186(a)
  8. date not statedPetition for rulemaking
    37 N.J.R. 1540(b)

How this rule has been applied

150 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.8. The list below is citations to those decisions, not the decisions. The summary above is ours, written from the opinion after reading it. Nothing here is legal advice.

Decisions we have read

In re Foglio207 N.J. 38, July 19, 2011

A firefighter candidate was passed over while the city appointed three people ranked below him. The Supreme Court did not question the power to appoint a lower-ranked candidate, which the Rule of Three plainly allows. What it would not accept was the explanation: a reason that is generic enough to fit any bypass, and says nothing specific about this candidate, does not satisfy the appointing authority's duty to report why it went past somebody. Foglio won. Two things are worth knowing alongside the case: the word bypass is the courts' shorthand rather than the code's, since Title 4A never uses it, and the report the rule requires goes to the Commission rather than to the candidate who was passed over.

Read the opinion (free, via CourtListener). Summary written from the decision, checked July 26, 2026.

New Jersey Supreme Court (2)
  • In re Foglio207 N.J. 38; 22 A.3d 9582011
  • 75 N.J. 372; 382 A.2d 11211978
Superior Court (3)
  • Grill v. City of Newark311 N.J.Super. 149; 709 A.2d 333
  • Local 518, New Jersey State Motor Vehicle Employees Union, S.E.I.U., AFL-CIO v. Division of Motor Vehicles262 N.J.Super. 598; 621 A.2d 549
  • Civil Service Act. Local 518, New Jersey State Motor Vehicle Employees Union, S.E.I.U., AFL-CIO v. Division of Motor Vehicles262 N.J.Super. 598; 621 A.2d 549
Civil Service Commission final determinations (139)
Office of Administrative Law initial decisions (5)
  • Rule of Three. In re Alemany et al., Fire Captain (PM1051V), Paterson, OAL Docket No. CSV 13150-18 (Consolidated)
  • In re GilleeceDocket CSV 07839-08cites (a)
  • In re Johnson, County of EssexDocket CSV3604-06
  • In re BradleyDocket CSV 5837-02
  • In re CresongDocket CSV 8214-04
Other decisions (1)
  • Good cause was presented to revive the eligible list for Police Officer pursuant to N.J.S.A. 11A:4-6 and N.J.A.C. 4A:4-3.4 so that two candidates could be appointed to the title. The record established that they appeared on the certification for Police Officer, Township of Montville, but in error, the appointing authority failed to complete the necessary paperwork to effectuate their appointments. The candidates had been successfully performing the duties of a Police Officer. Furthermore, a review of the record indicates they were both reachable for appointment under N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.8(a)3. In re Matthew McCue and Dana Reid, Police Officer (S9999M), Twp. of Montville, CSC Dkt. Nos. 2014-1887 and 2014-1888, Final Decision (April 10cites (a)3

Commission decisions citing 4A:4-4.8

201 decisions of the Civil Service Commission since January 16, 2019 cite this section (denied 123, granted 38, ordered 14, as the minutes record the outcome). The newest:

All 201 decisions

This rule points to

Rules that point here

Elsewhere in Certification From Eligible Lists