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N.J.A.C. 4A:7-1.1 General provisions

N.J.A.C. 4A:7-1.1, General provisions. There shall be equal employment opportunity for all persons in, or applicants for, the career, unclassified, and senior executive services, regardless of ra Full text with 7 recorded amendments, 16 citing decisions, cited by 2 other rules.

Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action · Equal Employment Opportunity

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

Read the last two subsections first, because that is where State and local service part company. The conduct prohibitions in this chapter are written around State service: discriminatory conduct against a State employee by another State employee or by a person doing business with the State, and conduct by a State employee against such a person. In local service an appointing authority may establish policies and procedures for processing discrimination complaints, which is permission rather than a requirement. The equal employment opportunity guarantee itself is broader. It covers everyone in, or applying to, the career, unclassified and senior executive services across a long list of protected categories, and it reaches recruitment, selection, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, work environment, layoff, return from layoff, compensation and fringe benefits. The exception is a qualification specifically permitted and essential to successful job performance. Affirmative action, as distinct from equal opportunity, is not required with respect to persons identified solely by affectional or sexual orientation.

Written by the NJ Civil Service Navigator editorial team from the text of N.J.A.C. 4A:7-1.1. It is a description of the rule, not the rule itself, and not legal advice.

(a) There shall be equal employment opportunity for all persons in, or applicants for, the career, unclassified, and senior executive services, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, sex/gender (including pregnancy), affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, familial status, religion, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or disability, except where a particular qualification is specifically permitted and is essential to successful job performance. See N.J.A.C. 4A:4-4.5 on bona fide occupational qualification. #

(b) Equal employment opportunity includes, but is not limited to, recruitment, selection, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, work environment, layoff, return from layoff, compensation, and fringe benefits. Equal employment opportunity further includes policies, procedures, and programs for recruitment, employment, training, promotion, and retention of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. Equal employment opportunity but not affirmative action is required with respect to persons identified solely by their affectional or sexual orientation. #

(c) Persons with disabilities shall include any person who has a physical disability, infirmity, malformation, or disfigurement which is caused by bodily injury, birth defect, or illness including epilepsy and other seizure disorders, and which shall include, but not be limited to, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical coordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a service or guide dog, wheelchair, or other remedial appliance or device, or any mental, psychological, or developmental disability resulting from anatomical, psychological, physiological, or neurological conditions which prevents the normal exercise of any bodily or mental functions or is demonstrable, medically or psychologically, by accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques. Disability shall also mean AIDS or HIV infection. See N.J.S.A. 10:5-5(q). See also N.J.A.C. 4A:4-2.14 for accommodation and waiver of examinations for persons with disabilities. #

(d) The following race/ethnic categories shall be used by the Civil Service Commission: #

1. W: "White, not of Hispanic origin" means persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East; #

2. B: "Black, not of Hispanic origin" means persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa; #

3. H: "Hispanic" means persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race; #

4. I: "American Indian or Alaskan Native" means persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition; and #

5. A: "Asian or Pacific Islander" means persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, and Samoa. #

(e) Sexual harassment is a form of prohibited gender discrimination that will not be tolerated. #

(f) This chapter prohibits all forms of discriminatory conduct against any State employee by any other State employee or person doing business with the State. In addition, this chapter prohibits any form of discriminatory conduct by a State employee against a person doing business with the State. A "person doing business with the State" means an independent vendor performing services or supplying goods pursuant to a contract with the State. #

(g) In local service, an appointing authority may establish policies and procedures for processing discrimination complaints. #

Amendment history

Rule numbers, effective dates and New Jersey Register citations as published. 7 recorded changes.

  1. AmendedR.2015 d.188
    47 N.J.R. 1698(a); 47 N.J.R. 2972(a)
  2. AmendedR.2007 d.244
    39 N.J.R. 1340(a); 39 N.J.R. 3499(a)
  3. AmendedR.2005 d.65
    36 N.J.R. 4566(a); 37 N.J.R. 586(a)
  4. AmendedR.2002 d.10
    33 N.J.R. 3281(a); 34 N.J.R. 261(a)
  5. AmendedR.1994 d.72
    25 N.J.R. 4821(b); 26 N.J.R. 794(b)
  6. AmendedR.1992 d.420
    24 N.J.R. 2496(c); 24 N.J.R. 3721(a)
  7. date not statedAdministrative correction
    22 N.J.R. 2266(a)

How this rule has been applied

16 decisions have cited N.J.A.C. 4A:7-1.1. 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.

New Jersey Supreme Court (2)
  • 86 N.J. 141; 430 A.2d 1941981
  • Ballou v. State Department of Civil Service75 N.J. 365; 382 A.2d 11181978
Appellate Division (2)
  • , No. A-1291-07T12009 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 1055
  • Kiss v. Community Affairs Dep't171 N.J.Super. 193; 408 A.2d 450
Federal courts (2)
  • 832 F.2d 811
  • 473 F.Supp. 1199
Civil Service Commission final determinations (8)
  • In re J.D., Ann Klein Forensic Ctr., Dep't of Health2024 N.J. CSC LEXIS 62Docket CSV 05913-22
  • In re Smith, Passaic Cnty., Preakness Healthcare Ctr.2021 N.J. CSC LEXIS 266Docket CSV 05068-20
  • In re Carter, et. al., City of Jersey City, et. al., CSC Docket Nos. 2021-381 (Consolidated)2021 N.J. CSC LEXIS 11Docket 2021-381
  • In re J.S., Dep't of Children & Families, CSC Docket No. 2018-11002018 N.J. CSC LEXIS 667Docket 2018-1100
  • Graham v. Kearny Board of Education97 N.J.A.R.2d (CRT) 173
  • McEvoy v. Borough of Glassboro and Glassboro Police Department97 N.J.A.R.2d (CRT) 136
  • Botterman v. Bergen County Community Action Program97 N.J.A.R.2d (CRT) 129
  • Parker v. Glassboro State College96 N.J.A.R.2d (CRT) 24
Office of Administrative Law initial decisions (2)
  • In re Farlow, Camden Cnty. Corr. Facility2016 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 513Docket CSR 01795-15
  • In re Yolanda Curtis, Dep't of Children and Families (Gloucester West Local Office)2014 N.J. AGEN LEXIS 814Docket CSV 1289-14

This rule points to

Rules that point here

Elsewhere in Equal Employment Opportunity