N.J.A.C. 4A:8-1 Procedures
Every section of N.J.A.C. 4A:8-1, Procedures: 7 rules with full text, amendment history and citing decisions.
- 4A:8-1.1General
A demotion counts as a layoff. Where an appointing authority demotes someone for economy, efficiency or other related reasons, that is a layoff action and every requirement of this chapter applies to it, including the 45-day notice and the appeal routes. Those three reasons are also the only grounds this section gives for a layoff in the first place. The rights are not the appointing authority's to work out. The Chairperson or designee determines seniority and designates lateral, demotional and special reemployment rights for all career service titles before the layoff takes effect, and that information has to be provided to the affected parties. One absolute bar closes the section: an employee on a military leave of absence for active service in the Armed Forces in time of war or emergency cannot be subject to any layoff action at any time.
- 4A:8-1.1A(Reserved)
Reserved. No rule text is currently published at this citation.
- 4A:8-1.2Alternatives to layoff
State service shall, local service should. A State appointing authority is required to lessen the possibility of layoffs by offering and implementing voluntary alternatives as appropriate; a local one is told to consider them. The listed alternatives are leaves of absence without pay approved by the Chairperson, voluntary furloughs, voluntary reductions in work hours including job sharing arrangements, optional temporary demotional title changes, and any other action that avoids a layoff. Participation is voluntary throughout. The protective clause is the one to know: where a layoff happens anyway, taking part in an alternative does not diminish layoff rights, and the employee is treated as having served in the original title and earned seniority in it for that period. Appointing authorities should consult the affected negotiations representatives before offering alternatives, and must have the Chairperson's approval of a written plan first, including time periods and a statement of the right to be restored to prior status.
- 4A:8-1.3Pre-layoff actions
Nothing in this section is voluntary for the employee, which is what separates it from the alternatives rule next door. These are steps the appointing authority takes on its own, in State and local service alike: a temporary hiring or promotion freeze, separating non-permanent employees, returning provisional employees to their permanent titles, reassigning employees, and helping affected people secure transfers or other employment. Subsection (b) sets an order of impact. Where positions are being vacated, reclassified or abolished, the appointing authority must to the extent possible place employees without permanent status into them first, and then those with the least seniority, so that the impact on permanent employees is lessened. Negotiations representatives must be consulted before any of this starts, and Commission staff can assist on request.
- 4A:8-1.4Review by the Civil Service Commission
Thirty days before any layoff notice goes out, the appointing authority files a layoff plan with the Chairperson. What goes into it is a detailed record: the reason, the projected effective date, a sample notice, the positions to be vacated, reclassified or abolished by title, and the name, status, layoff unit, location and permanent title of every employee initially affected, including employees on leave. It also lists the vacant positions in the layoff unit the authority is willing to fill, explains every alternative and pre-layoff action taken or ruled out, and summarises the consultations with negotiations representatives. Two consequences follow. Those listed vacancies must then be filled and may only be filled through the layoff procedures. And the Chairperson may direct changes, including to the layoff notice and to the effective date of the layoff. Local jurisdictions with an approved performance evaluation programme also file the names of permanent employees rated Unsatisfactory in the preceding 12 months.
- 4A:8-1.5Layoff units and job locations
How wide the layoff unit is decides who an employee can displace, and the width differs by service. In State service the unit is an entire department or autonomous agency and takes in every programme it administers; in the Judiciary it is a vicinage or the Central Office. In local service the default is narrower: a single department of a county or municipality, an entire autonomous agency, or an entire school district. A local unit can be widened to cover more than one department, but only by a determination of the Chairperson made before the layoff plan is due, after a comment period of at least 20 days for affected employees and negotiations representatives, weighing the effect on employee layoff rights among other factors. Job location is a separate idea. In State service each job location is a county, and the Chairperson assigns one to every facility and office. In local service the whole political subdivision is one job location, including any facility it runs outside its own borders.
- 4A:8-1.6Layoff notice
Forty five days of written notice, served personally, or by certified mail where the employee is on leave or otherwise unavailable, in which case the 45 days are counted from the first date the Postal Service notifies the addressee. The notice carries two things only: the effective date and the reason. People whose positions are not targeted but who may be affected by someone exercising lateral or demotional rights get a general notice on the same 45 days. The layoff must then happen within 120 days of service or fresh notices are needed. Seniority and layoff rights are fixed to the scheduled effective date and survive an extension of it, with one adjustment: where the date moves, employees who complete their working test period before displacement have their special reemployment rights redetermined. Once rights are determined, a final written notice sets out each employee's status and appeal rights. State employees facing separation must be told of vacancies in other departments, and a qualified employee rated Successful or above may take one in lieu of separation, forfeiting special reemployment rights by doing so.