N.J.A.C. 4A:2 Appeals, Discipline, and Separations
Chapter 2 is the one people reach for on a bad day. It covers appeals generally, then major discipline (removal, suspension of more than five days, demotion, fines), then minor discipline and grievances, then what happens at the end of a working test period, then resignations. If you are holding a d
Chapter 2 is the one people reach for on a bad day. It covers appeals generally, then major discipline (removal, suspension of more than five days, demotion, fines), then minor discipline and grievances, then what happens at the end of a working test period, then resignations. If you are holding a disciplinary notice, the charge on it comes from 4A:2-2.3 and the process that follows is in 4A:2-2.5 through 4A:2-2.9. Note the split between major and minor discipline: they run on different tracks with different appeal rights, and which one you are on decides almost everything else.
Subchapter 1. Appeals
- 4A:2-1.1Filing of appeals
Twenty days, running from the earlier of two things: when you had notice of the decision, situation or action, or when you reasonably should have known of it.
- 4A:2-1.2Stay and interim relief requests
Asking for a stay does not pause anything by itself.
- 4A:2-1.3Adjournments
Postponing a hearing carries a risk if the reason does not hold up.
- 4A:2-1.4Burden of proof
Who has to prove what, settled in three lines.
- 4A:2-1.5Remedies
Winning an appeal and being made whole are two separate questions.
- 4A:2-1.6Reconsideration of decisions
Forty-five days from receiving the decision, and only two grounds will do.
- 4A:2-1.7Specific appeals
An index, and one worth checking before assuming the general rules apply to your situation.
- 4A:2-1.8Appeal processing fees
Twenty dollars per appellant, by check or money order payable to NJCSC, submitted with the appeal.
Subchapter 2. Major Discipline
- 4A:2-2.1Employees covered
Major discipline protections reach permanent career service employees and people serving a working test period.
- 4A:2-2.2Types of discipline
Three things count as major discipline: removal, disciplinary demotion, and a suspension or fine of more than five working days at one time.
- 4A:2-2.3General causes
Twelve grounds, and every disciplinary charge in New Jersey civil service traces to at least one of them.
- 4A:2-2.4Limitations on suspensions and fines
A suspension or fine cannot run beyond six months, with one exception: a suspension pending a criminal complaint or indictment, which 4A:2-2.7 governs separately.
- 4A:2-2.5Opportunity for hearing before the appointing authority
Before major discipline is imposed you must be served with a Preliminary Notice of Disciplinary Action setting out the charges and the facts supporting them, and offered a hearing.
- 4A:2-2.6Hearings before the appointing authority
What the departmental hearing looks like.
- 4A:2-2.7Actions involving criminal matters
What happens to the job while a criminal charge is pending.
- 4A:2-2.8Appeals to Civil Service Commission
Twenty days.
- 4A:2-2.9Commission hearings
Whether you get a hearing, and who conducts it.
- 4A:2-2.10Back pay, benefits and seniority
What you get back when discipline is overturned.
- 4A:2-2.11Interest
Interest on a back pay award is discretionary and narrow.
- 4A:2-2.12Counsel fees
Counsel fees are recoverable, but the bar is high and the rates are capped.
- 4A:2-2.13Removal appeals of certain law enforcement officers and firefighters
A separate removal appeal route for police officers, other law enforcement officers and full-time paid firefighters, and the definitions decide who is in it.
Subchapter 3. Minor Discipline and Grievances
- 4A:2-3.1General provisions
State service only.
- 4A:2-3.2Minor discipline appeal to appointing authority: State service
Read the contract before the rule.
- 4A:2-3.3Grievance appeal to appointing authority: State service
Group grievances get explicit treatment here, running in both directions.
- 4A:2-3.4Grievance procedure: Step One: State service
Four numbers run Step One in State service.
- 4A:2-3.5Grievance procedure: Step Two
Ten calendar days to move up, and the clock starts on either of two events: receipt of the written Step One decision, or the department failing to respond in time at Step One under 4A:2-3.4.
- 4A:2-3.6Conduct and scheduling of hearings and grievance meetings: State service
Paid time to attend, unpaid time to prepare.
- 4A:2-3.7Appeals from appointing authority decisions: State service
The gate that catches these is not the deadline.
Subchapter 4. Termination at End of Working Test Period
- 4A:2-4.1Notice of termination
The notice that ends a working test period, and the timing rule that can hand you permanent status.
- 4A:2-4.2Time for appeal
Twenty days from receiving the written notice of termination or return to a former permanent title, in writing, to the Civil Service Commission.
- 4A:2-4.3Civil Service Commission hearing
The hardest sentence in this part of the code sits here: the employee has the burden of proof to establish that the action was in bad faith.
Subchapter 5. Employee Protection Against Reprisals or Political Coercion
- 4A:2-5.1General provisions
Two protections sit in this section, with two different coverage lists, and that is the detail to get right.
- 4A:2-5.2Appeals
Twenty days, measured from the action or from the date the employee should reasonably have known it happened.
Subchapter 6. Resignations
- 4A:2-6.1Resignation in good standing
Fourteen days notice, written or verbal, and a permanent career service employee who gives it resigns in good standing.
- 4A:2-6.2Resignation not in good standing
You can land here without ever writing a resignation letter.
- 4A:2-6.3General resignation
A third category, and it exists only inside a settlement.