N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.5 Restoration to eligible list or former title
N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.5, Restoration to eligible list or former title. An employee who, either during or at the end of a working test period, resigns in good standing or is separated due to unsatisfactory performance may, upon Full text with 3 recorded amendments, 3 citing decisions.
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
Losing a working test period does not have to mean losing the list. An employee who resigns in good standing, or is separated for unsatisfactory performance, may ask to be put back on an eligible list, and the Chairperson or designee restores them if they are suitable for appointment to another position. What gets weighed is whether the list can be certified to a different appointing authority, what the former appointing authority recommends, and anything else relevant. Two hard limits. Anybody removed for disciplinary reasons is not restored at all, which is a real distinction between being let go for performance and being disciplined out. And if you have appealed under 4A:2-4, the restoration request waits until the appeal is decided rather than running alongside it.
Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.5. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.
(a) An employee who, either during or at the end of a working test period, resigns in good standing or is separated due to unsatisfactory performance may, upon request, be restored to an eligible list, if the Chairperson or designee determines that the employee is suitable for appointment to another position. #
1. The Chairperson or designee may consider: #
i. Whether the list can be certified to another appointing authority; #
ii. The recommendation of the employee's former appointing authority; and #
iii. Any other relevant factors. #
2. Any employee who has been removed for disciplinary reasons shall not be restored to an eligible list. #
3. Any employee who has filed an appeal pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:2-4 shall have his or her request for restoration held in abeyance pending the appeal. #
(b) An employee who is laid off during the working test period shall be restored to the eligible list from which he or she was appointed. #
(c) A permanent employee serving a working test period in another title shall continue to accrue seniority in his or her permanent title for the duration of the working test period. See N.J.A.C. 4A:4-1.9 for procedures on restoration to a former title. #
After a working test period ends badly: your old title, the list, or neither
Where you land after a failed or abandoned working test period depends on how you came into it and how it ended. This section and the return rule it points to sort people into a few groups, and they get very different results.
If you already held a permanent title, you have somewhere to go. Seniority in that permanent title keeps accruing for the whole working test period in the new title, and the layoff seniority rule says the same. The return rule gives you rights to a position in the permanent title in the same organizational unit, provided you held it within your current continuous service. In State service that unit is the appointing authority; in local service it is a department or separate agency of the same jurisdiction. The appointing authority makes room by using a vacancy, then by separating a provisional employee with no permanent status, then by sending back someone serving provisionally in your permanent title. If it cannot do any of those, and you do not agree on another title, it has to use layoff procedures.
If you had no permanent title, the eligible list is the fallback. Someone who resigns in good standing, or is separated for unsatisfactory performance, during or at the end of the period may ask to be restored to an eligible list. That is a request, not a right: the Chairperson or designee decides whether you are suitable for appointment to another position and may weigh whether the list can be certified to a different appointing authority, what your former appointing authority recommends, and anything else relevant. If you appeal the termination, the restoration request waits until the appeal is decided.
Two groups are treated differently. An employee laid off during the working test period is restored to the list they were appointed from, with no suitability decision, and the Commission may revive an expired list to appoint an eligible whose working test period a layoff cut short. An employee removed for disciplinary reasons is at the other end: the section bars restoring them to an eligible list at all. Because major discipline procedures cover employees serving a working test period, that removal carries a notice, a hearing and an appeal in which the appointing authority carries the burden.
The rules do not say how often restoration is granted or how long a restored name stays usable, which depends on the life of the list itself.
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. 3 recorded changes.
- AmendedR.2017 d.14249 N.J.R. 492(a); 49 N.J.R. 2239(a)
- AmendedR.1990 d.55322 N.J.R. 2629(a); 22 N.J.R. 3482(b)
- AmendedR.1989 d.57021 N.J.R. 2429(a); 21 N.J.R. 3451(a)
How this rule has been applied
3 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:4-5.5. 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 (3)
- In re Watts, Police Officer (S9999U), Pennsauken Twp., CSC Docket No. 2019-3297Docket 2019-3297
- In re Senica, Human Servs. Specialist 2 (PC1878U), Ocean Cnty., CSC Docket No. 2018-742Docket 2018-742
- In re Anthony Woods, The College of New Jersey, CSC Dkt. No. 2012-3335cites (a)
Commission decisions citing 4A:4-5.5
3 decisions of the Civil Service Commission since January 16, 2019 cite this section (granted 1, denied 1, granted in part 1, as the minutes record the outcome). The newest:
- In the Matters of Oliver French and Aramis Azize, Jersey City CSC Docket No. 2025-2736 · August 13, 2025 · Certification or appointment · Granted
- In the Matter of Peter Posimato, Entry Level Law Enforcement Examination (S9999A) CSC Docket No. 2020-129 · October 23, 2019 · Request for enforcement · Denied
- In the Matter of Megan Watts, Police Officer (S9999U), Pennsauken Township CSC Docket No. 2019-3297 · July 31, 2019 · Request for reconsideration · Granted in part