N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4 Human Resource Development: Training, Education, Career Development, and Employee Assistance Programs
Every section of N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4, Human Resource Development: Training, Education, Career Development, and Employee Assistance Programs: 10 rules with full text, amendment history and citing decisions.
- 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. In State service none of it is optional. The Chairperson or designee establishes training and education, performance evaluation and assistance programs for employees, and reviews and approves career development programs. Moving any of those responsibilities to an agency other than the Civil Service Commission takes a written order from the Chairperson, which is worth noticing: where a State training or evaluation function sits somewhere else, it sits there because such an order was issued.
- 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. It plans, develops and delivers all training and education programs for State employees except those exempted by Executive Order No. 12 (1990) or by a written delegation order from the Chairperson, and it does the same for evaluation and assistance programs. Delivery runs through the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development, with outside vendors contracted on the terms the rule sets and CLIP staff delivering only in limited circumstances. Agency employees, vendors and consultants may not develop or deliver a program CLIP can handle without prior written approval, and no State agency other than CLIP may employ anyone whose primary duty is staff training or human resource development. CLIP also approves all career development programs, keeps a record of training experiences, and evaluates results against four stated criteria. Each agency may name a customer liaison.
- 4A:6-4.3Training and Education Programs: State Service
A list, not a test. State government training and education programs include employee orientation, agency specific technical and topical programs, programs mandated by State and Federal statutes, health and safety, general training, computer and information systems training, basic literacy and remedial programs, clerical and support programs, apprenticeships, supervisory and management training, and executive training and development. The rule says the list is not exhaustive, so a program missing from it is not excluded by its absence. What any of these look like inside a particular department depends on the plan developed for that agency under N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4.2 rather than on anything set here.
- 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. Its standard is external: the program has to meet criteria established by the National Certified Public Managers Consortium rather than criteria New Jersey writes for itself. The Chairperson or designee is Chief Administrative Officer of the program and the Director of CLIP is Program Director. Instruction comes in progressive levels and is delivered jointly by CLIP and an institution of higher education selected by the Civil Service Commission, so no single agency runs it end to end.
- 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. The approval request is a written plan setting out the program's goals, objectives, target population, projected outcome, and the criteria by which its success will be judged. The program also has to line up with the agency's own goals, workforce planning and technological changes. Three named things count as support for career development: tuition assistance at N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4.6, employee interchanges at N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4.8, and internships at N.J.A.C. 4A:6-4.9. That list is expressly open.
- 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 relates to current or planned job responsibilities. The ceiling moves rather than sitting at a fixed figure: no employee may receive tuition aid in a semester exceeding the cost of six credits at a New Jersey State College or at Rutgers, whichever is higher. Reimbursement follows evidence of satisfactory completion as the department determines. The plan, filed either with the human resource development plan or on its own, must state eligibility criteria and acceptable grades, the funds allocated, who administers it, the amount and form of reimbursement, and how employees are told the outcome. Amendments go in a month before implementation, notice is posted throughout the agency, and semi-annual reports go to the Commission.
- 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. The employee interchange program lets an appointing authority act as a sending or receiving agency with any Federal, State or local governmental entity or private sector organisation, the stated aim being better management of government through shared experience, communication and learning. The Chairperson may approve a shorter assignment in an emergency and may extend one by up to six further months to finish work in progress, and no employee may be assigned for more than 12 months in any 36-month period without such an extension. Throughout, the participant remains an employee of the sending agency and is paid and benefited by it, with any reimbursement between agencies left to their agreement. Written consent is required. Two obligations follow the employee out: remaining with the sending agency for at least a year afterwards, and the New Jersey Conflict of Interest Law. Either agency may end the interchange on 30 days written notice.
- 4A:6-4.9Internship programs: State service
Internship programs in State service come in three shapes. There are placements limited to full time students of participating accredited institutions of higher education, doing work for a department or agency that is directly related to their course of study. There are fellowships in managerial assignments, given to selected individuals on the strength of established educational and career achievements. And there are educational or apprenticeship programs for existing State employees, aimed at career change, advancement, or displacement from a job. None of them run unilaterally: the agency head submits a written proposal to the Chairperson describing the program, its benefits, participants, costs and relevant data, and the Chairperson may ask for more information and then approve, disapprove or modify it.
- 4A:6-4.10Employee Advisory Service: State service
Confidentiality is the design of the Employee Advisory Service. EAS gives State employees access to counseling, rehabilitative or community services, and four situations open the door: an annual performance rating at the lowest level, a rating below the mid-point of a multi-level scale where an improvement plan has not worked, personal problems affecting job performance, and a family member's problems affecting the employee's performance. Employees may contact EAS themselves, be referred by the appointing authority, or with their consent be referred by a union or association representative. Except where there is an overriding health or safety need, EAS information about an employee is confidential. On an appointing authority referral the employer may be told four things only: whether the person was accepted into a program, whether appointments were kept, the dates and times of future appointments, and the estimated time to complete where that is reasonably ascertainable. Intake and evaluation visits are time off with pay.