N.J.A.C. 4A:2-5 Employee Protection Against Reprisals or Political Coercion
Every section of N.J.A.C. 4A:2-5, Employee Protection Against Reprisals or Political Coercion: 2 rules with full text, amendment history and citing decisions.
- 4A:2-5.1General provisions
Two protections sit in this section, with two different coverage lists, and that is the detail to get right. The whistleblower protection is the broader one. An appointing authority may not take or threaten any reprisal against an employee in the career, senior executive or unclassified service in retaliation for the employee lawfully disclosing information on a violation of any law or rule, on governmental mismanagement, or on abuse of authority. The political protection is narrower. It runs to career service employees and to senior executive service employees who hold career status, and it bars any action taken or threatened on the basis of permissible political activities or affiliations. State service employees in the unclassified service are brought into the subchapter as well, but only where they do not serve in policy making or confidential positions. Threatening the action is prohibited on the same footing as taking it, in both halves. The route for enforcing either is set out at 4A:2-5.2.
- 4A:2-5.2Appeals
Twenty days, measured from the action or from the date the employee should reasonably have known it happened. The appeal is written and has to specify the basis for it. Two features of this route are worth noting. The Commission may request additional information or conduct any necessary investigation of its own, rather than only weighing what the parties choose to file. And no processing fee applies, because 4A:2-1.8 exempts reprisal and political coercion appeals. The decision comes on a review of the written record or on whatever other proceeding the Commission thinks appropriate. Where improper reprisal or political coercion is established the rule requires the Commission to provide appropriate protections and remedies to the employee, without stating what those are; what is available generally is set out at 4A:2-1.5.