NJ Civil Service Navigator

N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.3 Progress reports

N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.3, Progress reports. The appointing authority shall prepare a progress report on the employee at the end of two months and a final report at the conclusion of the working test p Full text with 3 recorded amendments, 16 citing decisions.

Selection and Appointment · Working Test Period

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

You are entitled to see how it is going before it ends. The appointing authority has to write a progress report at the two month mark and a final report when the working test period concludes, and it has to give you a copy of every report. Where a State service period has been extended by two months there is an additional progress report at five months and a final report at the end of the extension. Entry level law enforcement, correction officer, correctional police officer and firefighter titles run on a longer cycle, with the progress report at six months and the final report at the conclusion. A missing progress report is worth raising at the time rather than after a termination, because the reports are the documentary record of the performance the decision rests on.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.3. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) The appointing authority shall prepare a progress report on the employee at the end of two months and a final report at the conclusion of the working test period. If the Chairperson or designee has extended the working test period in State service pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.2(b)2, the appointing authority shall also prepare a progress report at the end of five months and a final report at the conclusion of the extended working test period. #

(b) For entry level law enforcement, correction officer, correctional police officer, and firefighter titles, the appointing authority shall prepare a progress report on the employee at the end of six months and a final report at the conclusion of the working test period. #

(c) The appointing authority shall furnish the employee with a copy of all reports. #

(d) In State service, the appointing authority shall: #

1. Retain all reports for an employee in his or her individual personnel file; #

2. When an employee is being separated or returned to his or her permanent title due to unsatisfactory performance, submit to appropriate Civil Service Commission staff, within five days following the last day of the working test period, copies of all progress reports and the final report, and the written notice of separation or return to his or her permanent title; #

3. Retain all progress reports and related material for the length of an employee's service and for six years following his or her separation from State service, if applicable; and #

4. Retain for auditing any other records so identified by the Chairperson or designee. #

(e) In local service, the appointing authority shall furnish working test period progress reports to Civil Service Commission staff upon request. #

Amendment history

Rule numbers, effective dates and New Jersey Register citations as published. 3 recorded changes.

  1. AmendedR.2019 d.072
    51 N.J.R. 191(b); 51 N.J.R. 1115(a)
  2. AmendedR.2017 d.142
    49 N.J.R. 492(a); 49 N.J.R. 2239(a)
  3. AmendedR.1993 d.270
    25 N.J.R. 1085(b); 25 N.J.R. 2509(a)

How this rule has been applied

16 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.3. 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 (6)
  • In re Payne, Camden Cnty. Dep't of Corr.2021 N.J. CSC LEXIS 273Docket CSV 04382-19
  • In re Patel, Dep't of Transp., CSC DKT. NO. 2010-14492014 N.J. CSC LEXIS 775
  • In re Ajewole2009 N.J. CSC LEXIS 1443Docket CSV 01226-09
  • Love v. Irvington Township Police Department93 N.J.A.R.2d (CSV) 482
  • Sokolowsky v. Township of Freehold Dept. of Code Enforcement92 N.J.A.R.2d (CSV) 155
  • Richardson v. Department of Corrections, New Jersey State Prison92 N.J.A.R.2d (CSV) 63
Office of Administrative Law initial decisions (10)
  • Petrosky v. Union Cnty. Dep't of Human Serv.2024 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 487Docket CSV 05680-23
  • In re Miller, Essex Cnty. Dep't of Citizen Servs.2019 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 48Docket CSV 00727-18
  • In re Hanns, Jr., City of Linden Police Dep't2017 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 563Docket CSV 00745-17
  • Pierce v. City of Hackensack Police Dep't2017 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 566Docket CSV 01242-15
  • In re Edu, Mercer Cty. Corrs. Ctr.2015 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 286Docket CSV 16976-13
  • In re Bhadreshku Patel2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 714Docket CSV 14102-09
  • In re Villecca2008 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 710Docket CSV 2978-06
  • In re Maldonado2008 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 396Docket CSV 07337-04
  • In re Britton2008 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 520Docket CSV 8350-06
  • In re Matus2007 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 1029Docket CSV 5064-07

This rule points to

Elsewhere in Working Test Period