N.J.A.C. 4A:6 Leaves, Hours of Work, and Employee Development
Chapter 6 covers the conditions of the job rather than getting or losing it: leaves of absence of every kind, hours of work, supplemental compensation on retirement, training and career development, performance evaluation, awards, and the telework programme. The leave subchapter is the most consulte
Chapter 6 covers the conditions of the job rather than getting or losing it: leaves of absence of every kind, hours of work, supplemental compensation on retirement, training and career development, performance evaluation, awards, and the telework programme. The leave subchapter is the most consulted part, and it is also where State and federal entitlements interact, since the State family leave rules and the federal FMLA run alongside each other rather than as one scheme.
Subchapter 1. Leaves of Absence
- 4A:6-1.1General provisions
In local service the appointing authority sets the types of leave and the procedures, but not from a blank page.
- 4A:6-1.2Vacation leave
Two ladders, and they are not the same.
- 4A:6-1.3Sick leave
Sick leave is one of the places where the State figure and the local floor land on the same number: 15 working days credited at the beginning of each calendar year, an entitlement in State service and a minimum in local service.
- 4A:6-1.4Sick leave procedures: State service
Two clocks govern calling in sick in State service, and which one is yours depends on the unit.
- 4A:6-1.5Vacation, administrative, and sick leave adjustments: State service
You can end up owing the State leave, and this section is the arithmetic for it.
- 4A:6-1.6(Reserved)
Reserved. No rule text is currently published at this citation.
- 4A:6-1.7(Reserved)
Reserved. No rule text is currently published at this citation.
- 4A:6-1.8Pregnancy-disability and child care leave: State service
Pregnancy disability leave in State service is not built as a separate entitlement with rules of its own.
- 4A:6-1.9Administrative leave: State service
Emergencies first, then religious holidays, then personal matters.
- 4A:6-1.10Leave without pay: State service
One year is the ceiling, and even that takes two approvals.
- 4A:6-1.11Military leave
Which force you serve in decides how many paid days you get.
- 4A:6-1.12Leave for appointment by Governor
The timing is most of the rule.
- 4A:6-1.13Convention leave
Paperwork on both ends, and a five-day cap.
- 4A:6-1.14Education leave: State service
Discretionary, State service only, and gated twice.
- 4A:6-1.15Leave for athletic competition: State service
Narrow, and paid.
- 4A:6-1.16Leave for union office
Forty-one words, and the operative one is "may".
- 4A:6-1.17Leave for elective office: local service
Six years is the outer limit, and it runs from the day the leave begins rather than from anything about the office.
- 4A:6-1.18Leave for emergency civilian duty: State service
Two unrelated things share this section, both of them State service.
- 4A:6-1.19Leave for jury duty: State service
Commuting time counts.
- 4A:6-1.20Leave to appear as a witness: State service
Whether the appearance is paid turns on two questions: is it part of the job, and are you a party.
- 4A:6-1.21Family leave
Nothing in this section gives anybody a day off.
- 4A:6-1.21AState family leave
Twelve weeks in any 24-month period, under the New Jersey Family Leave Act, and employees in both State and local service may be eligible.
- 4A:6-1.21BFederal family and medical leave
The Civil Service Commission does not enforce this one.
- 4A:6-1.22Donated leave program
Four gates stand between a State employee and a day of donated leave: one year of continuous State service, exhaustion of all accrued sick, vacation and administrative leave along with any sick leave injury benefits and compensatory time...
- 4A:6-1.23Voluntary furlough program
The stated purpose is to lessen the need for reductions in force.
- 4A:6-1.24School volunteer leave
The volunteering is paid; getting there is not.
Subchapter 2. Hours of Work
- 4A:6-2.1General provisions
Local appointing authorities set their own hours of work, subject to whatever negotiations requirements apply.
- 4A:6-2.2Fixed workweek (35, 40, 3E or 4E) job titles: State service
Four things have to be true at once before a State job title is assigned a fixed workweek.
- 4A:6-2.2ALaw enforcement work schedule (4L): State service
Overtime begins on the 172nd hour.
- 4A:6-2.3Non-limited (NL, NE or N4) job titles: State service
Irregular hours, by design.
- 4A:6-2.4Holidays: State service
Holidays authorised by law or Executive Order are days off with regular pay for full-time State employees, and part-time employees working a constant percentage of a full week receive holiday leave credit in proportion.
- 4A:6-2.5Inclement weather or emergency conditions: State service
The Governor, or the Governor's designee, decides in consultation with the Office of Emergency Management whether inclement weather or another adverse situation requires curtailing State operations, and whether the curtailment is Statewi...
- 4A:6-2.6Flexitime programs: State service
Flexitime divides the day into core time, when everybody must be present, and flexible time on either side of it, when employees choose their arrival and departure subject to appointing authority approval.
- 4A:6-2.7Alternative workweek programs: State service
Unlike flexitime, this one is not optional: State appointing authorities shall establish alternative workweek programs, such as a four-day week, to meet operational or employee needs.
- 4A:6-2.8Adjusted hours of operation: State service
Shifting when the doors open rather than how long anyone works.
Subchapter 3. Supplemental Compensation on Retirement
- 4A:6-3.1Eligibility: State service
Supplemental compensation on retirement, or SCOR, is a State service payment, and eligibility turns on status and on how the employment ends.
- 4A:6-3.2Break in service: State service
Resign, retire or be removed, and the SCOR clock restarts: sick leave is computed only from the date of return to employment.
- 4A:6-3.3Computation of payment: State service
Fifteen thousand dollars is the ceiling on SCOR for any employee, whatever the sick leave balance says.
- 4A:6-3.4SCOR procedures: State service
Form DPF-279, filed within one year of the effective date of retirement, and only after the official notice of retirement approval has come from the pension board or authority.
- 4A:6-3.5SCOR: Intergovernmental transfers
Sick leave can travel with an intergovernmental transfer made under N.J.A.C.
Subchapter 4. Human Resource Development: Training, Education, Career Development, and Employee Assistance Programs
- 4A:6-4.1General provisions
Local appointing authorities may run human resource development programs of their own, and may take part in the programs set out in this subchapter subject to the Chairperson's terms and approval.
- 4A:6-4.2Civil Service Commission functions: State service
CLIP, the Center for Learning and Improving Performance, holds a near-monopoly on State employee training.
- 4A:6-4.3Training and Education Programs: State Service
A list, not a test.
- 4A:6-4.4Certified Public Manager Program: State service
The Certified Public Manager Program is for supervisors and managers in State service, developed and administered by CLIP.
- 4A:6-4.5Career Development Programs: State service
Career development programs prepare employees to move to new assignments or career opportunities, and a State department or agency needs the CLIP manager's written approval before running one.
- 4A:6-4.6Tuition aid program: State service
Every State department and agency has to establish a tuition aid program, subject to available appropriations, for eligible employees taking undergraduate, graduate, technical or supplemental coursework at an accredited institution that ...
- 4A:6-4.7(Reserved)
Reserved. No rule text is currently published at this citation.
- 4A:6-4.8Employee interchange program
Two months at the shortest, 12 at the longest.
- 4A:6-4.9Internship programs: State service
Internship programs in State service come in three shapes.
- 4A:6-4.10Employee Advisory Service: State service
Confidentiality is the design of the Employee Advisory Service.
Subchapter 5. Performance Evaluation
- 4A:6-5.1General provisions
In local service an employee performance evaluation program is optional, but using one in promotions or layoff requires review and approval by the Chairperson first.
- 4A:6-5.2PAR procedure: State service
The performance plan is built jointly by the employee and the supervisor, and an employee who disagrees with the plan that results may note the disagreement.
- 4A:6-5.3PAR use and review: State service
An annual rating below Successful denies the anniversary date increment, on either scale.
Subchapter 6. Awards Program
- 4A:6-6.1General provisions
Local appointing authorities may establish and administer awards programs, and the rule says nothing further about them.
- 4A:6-6.2New Jersey Employee Awards Committee: State service
Seven people, each employed in a different Executive Branch department, appointed by the Governor on the Chairperson's nomination for staggered three-year terms, serving without compensation beyond actual and necessary expenses and limit...
- 4A:6-6.3Records: State service
Two sets of books.
- 4A:6-6.4Commendation awards: State service
Four categories are named and the list is expressly open.
- 4A:6-6.5Suggestion Award Program standards: State service
A suggestion is a written proposal, from one person or a team, that will produce notable economy or improvement in an operation of State government, or improve service to the public, employee safety or employee welfare.
- 4A:6-6.6Suggestion Award Program procedures: State service
Five hundred dollars is the line that decides who approves an award.
- 4A:6-6.7Suggestion Award Program types and amounts of awards: State service
Cash awards run from $50.00 to $10,000 for each approved suggestion, or the suggester may take up to two days of paid time off instead, valued at their own daily rate.
- 4A:6-6.8Service Recognition Program: State service
Recognition arrives at every five years of employment, for all State employees, whatever their type of appointment.
- 4A:6-6.9Departmental awards programs: State service
Departments and agencies are encouraged rather than required to recognise their own employees, and the rule names attendance, safety, productivity, customer service, and employee of the year or month schemes without closing the list.
- 4A:6-6.10Appeals: State service
Twenty days, unless a different period is stated, running from when the appellant had notice of the decision or should reasonably have known of it.
Subchapter 7. Telework Program: State Service
- 4A:6-7.1Definitions
Four definitions, and they operate only inside the telework subchapter.
- 4A:6-7.2General provisions
State service only.
- 4A:6-7.3Telework program eligibility
Thirteen criteria decide whether a State employee is approved for telework, and two are about standing rather than the job: the performance evaluation system must reflect the ability to meet minimum performance expectations, and anyone c...
- 4A:6-7.4Performance expectations, revocations of telework eligibility, and adjustments of telework schedule
Performance requirements for teleworking employees are in general the same as for everyone else, and nothing in a telework program touches the appointing authority's right to assign work or ask about its status.
- 4A:6-7.5Emergent circumstances
A supervisor may direct a scheduled teleworker to report to the official reporting location or to the field for emergent operational reasons, and the rule lists several: work that cannot be done remotely, unanticipated staffing or worklo...
- 4A:6-7.6Data privacy
Records created at home are public records.
- 4A:6-7.7Telework and alternative workweek programs
Any State appointing authority without an existing alternative workweek program has to create one.
- 4A:6-7.8Challenges to telework eligibility denial, revocation, or adjustment
Three routes, and no fourth.