Articles Tagged with New Jersey Civil Service Lawyers

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Progressive Discipline

Progressive discipline is a principle followed in New Jersey employment law, in both civil service and non-civil service jurisdictions, including public schools.  In progressive discipline, a public employee’s prior disciplinary history will be considered in determining the appropriate penalty for disciplinary violations.  Thus, a 6-300x225government employee with a clean disciplinary record would receive a lesser penalty for the same violation for which another employee with previous discipline would receive a harsher penalty.  For example, an employee who was late for the first time might receive no discipline, while one who has been late fifty times in a year might be terminated.  Even with first offenses, however, some infractions are so severe that major discipline, even termination, may be appropriate for a first offense.

The Johnson Case

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New Jersey civil service law provides employees with an effective avenue for appealing adverse employment decisions to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission.  However, in the case of Matter of Trejo, Police Officer and Union City, a New Jersey appeals court held that an employee may be removed from a civil service hiring list for a negative prior employee disciplinary history.  Thissupreme-administrative-court-3565618_960_720-300x200 decision has significant implications for how employees should handle allegations of misconduct and resulting discipline.

Background

Ana Trejo was a public safety telecommunicator with the Union City Police Department for ten years when she took the civil service examination for police officer.  She passed and was placed on the eligible list.  However, Union City removed Trejo from the list because of her history of civil service employee discipline during her ten year employment as a telecommunicator with the Police Department.  Her disciplinary history included minor discipline for absenteeism; being reprimanded for sharing confidential law enforcement information; and imposition of major discipline for “inappropriate conduct.”  The New Jersey Civil Service Commission gave notice to Trejo that she had been removed from the list for having an “unsatisfactory employment record.”

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There are many differences between New Jersey employment law which applies to all employees in both the public and private sectors, and New Jersey civil service law which applies to permanent, career service government employees in civil service jurisdictions.  Generally, New Jersey civil service law provides more protections to public employees in civil service jurisdictions than private sectors employees receive.  But before New Jersey civil serviceNJ_State_House-300x200 employees can become permanent and receive all the protections of the Civil Service System, they must successfully complete a working test period.

 

Working Test Periods

Under New Jersey civil service law, a “working test period” (formerly called probation) is part of the civil service examination process which allows an employer to evaluate a new hired or newly promoted employee to determine whether she can satisfactorily perform her new duties.  During the working test period, newly hired or promoted civil service employees perform the regular duties of a permanent employee, but cannot take a promotional test from that title.  The working test period is not training.  Employees must already have the qualifications for the title prior to appointment. Employees must demonstrate competence in the position.

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Background.   New Jersey Civil Service exists remove favoritism, nepotism, politics and other improper considerations from employment decisions.  This includes Civil Service discipline.  Because Civil Service employers are governmental entities, due process and fundamental fairness protections govern discipline.supreme-administrative-court-3565618_960_720-300x200

As far back as 1961, the Appellate Division gave a good summary of Civil Service disciplinary procedures.

Disciplinary proceedings against a civil servant are not only an attempt to determine the status of a particular individual; they are a statutorily authorized action to redress a wrong committed against the people of the State by one in whom the public trust has been officially reposed. The proceedings are therefore penal, or at least quasi-penal, in nature, and deeply embedded constructional principles, supported by fundamental notions of fairness, dictate that in such an action the statute or regulation defining the alleged violation be construed to comport with the fair meaning of the language used. The theme of fairness threads its way through the notice, hearing, and right of appeal provisions of our Civil Service Act, and finds particular pertinence in those sections requiring that the causes for removal constituting ‘just cause’ be enumerated with specificity. The governing consideration, that one be fairly and completely advised of the nature of the charges against him, loses all effectiveness if it is not reinforced by a requirement that the proscribed activities and contingencies warranting disciplinary proceedings be set forth with reasonable particularity and construed accordingly.

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In General. The New Jersey Civil Service Act establishes three classes of civil service employees: Career (or “classified”), unclassified and, in State service, the Senior Executive Service.   The New Jersey Civil Service Commission has the job of classifying positions – it is the positions which are classified, not people. tenure-thumb-170x110-48818

Classification.  Each position in the career and unclassified services are then assigned to a job title by the Commission.  It specifies the qualifications, duties and responsibilities for each title.  It does this through a classification plan for all State government positions and similar plans for political subdivisions.  When necessary, the Commission will modify specifications to ensure their accuracy.  It is also responsible for notifying appointing authorities and employees of changes in classification plans which effect them.

Public employees in New Jersey Civil Service  must be appointed under a title which corresponds to the duties which the employee actually performs.  The employer’s authority to assign terms of office or employment is a limited by the terms of the classification plan. Appointing authorities are required to notify the Commission of new positions, organizational changes, or changes to employee responsibilities; they must annually submit updated organizational charts.  In State service, the negotiations representative (ie., the union) must be given notice of changes to the plan, including: reorganizations of titles or title series, or requests for new ones; request for reevaluation of job content; requests for modification of job specifications; and changes to flextime programs, alternate workweek programs and or hours.

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A recent New Jersey employment law decision by the Appellate Division of the State Superior Court in the case of Matter of Brian Clancy, illustrates the procedures – and some of the pitfalls – of appeals from the removal of candidates from civil service eligible lists.imagesCAWQ89PS

Background: Removal from the Eligible List

Clancy hoped to become a sheriff’s officer with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Officer, a civil service employer.  He took the civil service exam, passed, and was placed on the eligible list.  Thereafter, the Sheriff’s Office conducted a routine pre-employment background investigation, which is normal procedure after a candidate for a law enforcement officer position is placed on an eligible list for an agency.  Based on the results of the investigation, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office removed Clancy’s name from the eligible list.

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A recent New Jersey employment law decision in the case of In the Matter of Wilfred Guzman,  Rockaway Township Police Department, examined what penalties are available against a Newpolice-hoboken-train-station Jersey civil service law enforcement officer.

Background

Wilfredo Guzman was a police officer with the Rockaway Township Police Department, a civil service jurisdiction.  Guzman was suspended without pay from April 24, 2017, when he was indicted, until June 19, 2019, when he was served with a Final Notice of Disciplinary Action which terminated him.  The termination was triggered by Officer Guzman’s guilty pleas to two counts of second degree official misconduct.  The Township also fined Officer Guzman the equivalent of 1040 hours worth of pay. Guzman appealed the fine to the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law (“NJOAL”) – New Jersey employment law allows civil service law enforcement officers to skip appeals to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission requesting that the appeal be considered a contested case, and instead file instead directly with the NJOAL.

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Hello.

This is Robert Chewning from McLaughlin & Nardi.  I am here today to talk about Civil Service Commission appeals, specifically list bypass appeals.

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Discipline is a major component of New Jersey’s Civil Service system.  Discipline under New Jersey Civil Service law is either “major” or “minor.”

Major Discipline

The main procedural consequence of the difference major discipline and minor discipline is that major discipline can be appealed to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, while minor discipline can only be challenged in the Superior Court of New Jersey.  Major discipline is civil-servcie-1800s-300x165defined as a suspension or fine of more than five days.  Major discipline includes removal, disciplinary demotion, and suspension or fine for more than five working days.  The touchstone for all civil service disciplinary procedures, however, is that “The theme of fairness threads its way through the notice, hearing, and right of appeal provisions of our Civil Service Act, and finds particular pertinence in those sections requiring that the causes for [discipline, including] removal constituting ‘just cause’ be enumerated with specificity.”

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There are many people who complain that Civil Service is a terrible hindrance to efficient government.  Managers complain that Civil civil-caseService rules hinder their ability to run their organizations by hiring, firing and imposing discipline as they believe is best.  Citizens often complain Civil Service makes it too hard to get rid of “bad apples.”  Employees complain that Civil Service makes promotions and transfers too difficult.  Applicants complain that the Civil Service system makes it too hard to get hired.  All these criticisms are valid, as far as the go.  However, they miss the mark because they focus on the trees but miss the forest.  New Jersey’s Civil Service System was adopted to combat some real and grave problems with state and local government.  Without Civil Service these problems would continue today unchecked.  Civil Service isn’t perfect, but New Jersey is a far better place because of it.

New Jersey has a long history of government corruption; it is by no means a new phenomenon.  This included a “spoils system” rewarding the winners of elections with the ability to award jobs to their supporters, outright bribery, political favoritism, nepotism and outright discrimination in hiring and keeping government jobs.  It was a disgrace.

In 1908 the early twentieth century Progressive Movement led New Jersey to adopt its first Civil Service laws, and to establish the Civil Service Commission to regulate Civil Service practices.  Then, in 1947, a constitutional convention was held at Rutgers University, in which a new state Constitution was adopted.  The goal of the constitutional convention was to reform many areas of New Jersey’s state and local governments.  One area it specifically addressed was Civil Service.  Article VII, section 1 of the New Jersey Constitution of 1947 provided that:

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