N.J.A.C. 4A:2-1 Appeals
Every section of N.J.A.C. 4A:2-1, Appeals: 8 rules with full text, amendment history and citing decisions.
- 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. That second limb can expire a deadline on somebody who never received anything. It is the residual rule: 4A:2-1.7 sends every appeal without a procedure of its own here, and a period stated elsewhere displaces it. The appeal must be in writing, signed by you or your representative, and state the reason for it and the specific relief wanted. A fee applies under 4A:2-1.8 unless the appeal is an exempt type. Expect no hearing: appeals are decided on the written record unless a hearing is required by law, by this chapter or by the layoff rules at 4A:8, or unless the Commission finds a material and controlling dispute of fact that only a hearing can resolve. On a written record appeal you serve your materials on every other party and may read the file at the Commission or request copies. Representation may be by an attorney, an authorized union representative, or an authorized appointing authority representative. Failure to supply information the Commission requests may result in dismissal.
- 4A:2-1.2Stay and interim relief requests
Asking for a stay does not pause anything by itself. The rule says so directly: filing a petition for interim relief will not stay administrative proceedings or processes, so whatever is happening keeps happening while the petition sits. A stay may be sought once an appeal has been filed. It goes in writing, signed, with the supporting information behind the request, and copies served on every other party. Four factors govern: a clear likelihood of success on the merits, danger of immediate or irreparable harm if the request is refused, absence of substantial injury to other parties if it is granted, and the public interest. The same procedure has a second use at the far end of the case. After the Commission issues a final administrative decision, and once an appeal from that decision has been filed in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, a party may petition the Commission for a stay pending the court decision on the same standards. Most stay requests carry no processing fee under 4A:2-1.8. That one does.
- 4A:2-1.3Adjournments
Postponing a hearing carries a risk if the reason does not hold up. Where the Commission finds that an adjournment was not sought for good and sufficient reason, it may impose a fine or penalty. What counts as sufficient is left open, and the rule gives two examples rather than a list: an attorney unavoidably appearing in a State or Federal court, and illness of a party, which has to be evidenced by both an affidavit and a doctor certificate. The obligation sits on whoever asks. Any party requesting an adjournment of a hearing or other review has to establish the reason. Adjournments in matters before the Office of Administrative Law follow N.J.A.C. 1:1-9.6 instead.
- 4A:2-1.4Burden of proof
Who has to prove what, settled in three lines. In appeals concerning major disciplinary actions under 4A:2-2, the burden of proof is on the appointing authority, so the employer has to prove the charges rather than the employee having to disprove them. In every other appeal to the Commission the burden is on the appellant, which is to say on the person who filed. Minor discipline is not decided in this section at all. It is sent to 4A:2-3.7(f), where the answer depends on whether the matter is a grievance or a minor disciplinary charge, and where a threshold about issues of general applicability has to be cleared before the burden question arises.
- 4A:2-1.5Remedies
Winning an appeal and being made whole are two separate questions. Seniority credit may be awarded in any successful appeal. Money is much narrower. Back pay, benefits and counsel fees may be awarded in disciplinary appeals, and where a layoff action has been in bad faith. In every other kind of appeal they are available in only two situations: where the appointing authority has unreasonably failed or delayed to carry out an order of the Commission, or where the Commission finds sufficient cause on the particular facts. The rule offers one route to sufficient cause and it sets a high bar, the employee demonstrating that the appointing authority took adverse action against them in bad faith or with invidious motivation. Note the verb running through the whole section. May, not shall. What is granted on a reversed disciplinary penalty is a different question, answered at 4A:2-2.10.
- 4A:2-1.6Reconsideration of decisions
Forty-five days from receiving the decision, and only two grounds will do. Either there is new evidence or additional information that was not presented at the original proceeding, in which case the petition has to show both that it would change the outcome and why it was not presented the first time. Or a clear material error has occurred. Those two are the whole list, so disagreeing with the result is not by itself a ground. The petition goes in writing, signed by the petitioner or a representative, with copies of everything served on all other parties. On cost, the exemption follows the underlying appeal: reconsideration of an appeal that carried no fee carries none either, under 4A:2-1.8.
- 4A:2-1.7Specific appeals
An index, and one worth checking before assuming the general rules apply to your situation. Sixteen kinds of appeal have their own procedure elsewhere in Title 4A: awards in State service, classification, major discipline, minor discipline, discrimination in State service, removal from an employment list for medical reasons, removal from an employment list for psychological reasons, examinations, grievances, layoffs, overtime in State service, Performance Assessment Review in State service, reprisals, resignations, salary on job reevaluation in State service, and supplemental compensation on retirement in State service. Six of those sit in State service only, which the entries say on their face. The specific procedure can differ from the default in ways that matter: minor discipline, for one, has a burden of proof rule of its own rather than the one at 4A:2-1.4. Anything not on the list is filed under 4A:2-1.1.
- 4A:2-1.8Appeal processing fees
Twenty dollars per appellant, by check or money order payable to NJCSC, submitted with the appeal. Two ways out of it. A waiver is granted, not merely available, to an appellant who has established veterans preference under N.J.S.A. 11A:5-1, or who documents that they receive General Assistance, Work First New Jersey benefits or Supplemental Security Income, and the rule lists exactly what proof each of those takes. Separately, fifteen categories carry no fee at all, among them stay and interim relief requests, grievances in State service, reprisal or political coercion, classification, job reevaluation, waiver of a salary overpayment, extension or revival of an eligible list, layoff rights, and enforcement of a Commission decision. Twenty appellants on one appeal means twenty fees, though they may go in a single check. A group stay request filed by an attorney or union representative for all similarly situated members of a unit is one fee. An appeal arriving without the fee is not processed, and written notice sets the date by which the fee or proof of exemption must arrive. Nothing is refunded except a fee paid in error on an exempt appeal.