The Core Mission of the Civil Service Commission is to provide a fair and efficient human resource delivery system that rewards quality, merit and productivity. It does so in a framework that allows Civil Service jurisdictions the flexibility necessary to manage their workforce, improve productivity and provide a more cost effective service delivery for state taxpayers by achieving the following:

Providing an employee selection system designed to attract and retain a high-quality, diverse workforce, in consultation with Civil Service jurisdictions, and in accordance with established merit system principles and guidelines;

Providing the regulatory framework for the administration of an equitable and expeditious dispute resolution process between Civil Service jurisdictions and their employees;

Providing services in the areas of classification, employee compensation, personnel records management, layoff administration, policy development and interpretation rules compliance, and organizational design;

Providing strategic, operational and technical support on a wide range of issues related to the Civil Service system to include: review and establishment of new position classifications, reclassification of existing positions to different titles, the review and approval of reductions-in-force; job classification reviews and appeals, assistance with organizational review and title structures and placement services through the administration of the certification process and determination of certification appeals.

The Commission will report key performance indicators across the following Core Missions:

1. Classification and Personnel Management
2. Selection Services
3. Appeals and Regulatory Affairs
4. Training and Development

Written Record Appeal: An appeal decided on the basis of written submission of the parties and the records maintained by the agency, without the need for a trial-type hearing.

Pending Written Record Appeal: A written record appeal that has not been completed either by final decision of the Civil Service Commission or closed prior to being forwarded to the Commission.

Layoff Plan: A package submitted by an appointing authority to the Civil Service Commission for review and approval. Specific information that must be included in the plan is listed under Title 4A: 8-1.4 of the New Jersey Administrative Code; and includes but is not limited to the reason for layoff; the projected effective date; sample copies of layoff notices; the number of positions affected; permanent titles of employees initially affected; vacant positions in the layoff unit that the appointing authority is willing to fill; a detailed explanation of all alternative and pre-layoff actions that have been taken; summary of consultations with affected negotiations representatives; a list of affected negotiations representatives, including addresses and the units they represent, etc.

Notice of Final Determination: A letter issued by the Civil Service Commission to each local government employee impacted by layoff action advising of his/her layoff rights (lateral, demotional, prior held) if any, and his/her final status.

Career Service: Those positions and job titles subject to the tenure provisions of Title 11A, New Jersey Statutes Annotated.

Certification: A list of names qualified through the examination process presented to an appointing authority for regular, (permanent), appointment from open competitive, promotional, special and regular reemployment lists.

Disposition of a Certification: A certification disposition is the written report of actions taken by an appointing authority regarding a certification. Once the appointing authority receives the certified list of names, it performs an initial disposition of those names; however, the Civil Service Commission is responsible for approving the final disposition to ensure compliance with the provisions of Title 4A, Chapter 4 of the New Jersey Administrative Code. A certified list is considered properly disposed when the appointing authority provides documentation supporting their disposition to the Civil Service Commission. Upon receipt of a certification, appropriate action an appointing authority may make include: appointing the eligible whose name has been certified from the special reemployment list; appointing the eligible whose name has been certified from regular or police or fire reemployment lists; or appointing one of the top three interested eligibles (rule of three) from an open competitive or promotional list, provided that: disabled veterans and then veterans shall be appointed in their order of ranking from an open competitive list; if the eligible who ranks first on a promotional list is a veteran, then a non-veteran may not be appointed.

Open Competitive Examination: Pursuant to New Jersey Administrative Code (“N.J.A.C.”) 4A:4-2.3, the determination to announce an Open Competitive examination is based on at least one of the following conditions: 1. The vacancy is in an entrance level title; 2. There are fewer than three qualified permanent employees in appropriate lower titles in the unit scope (See N.J.A.C. 4A:1-1.3 for definition of unit scope); 3. If more than one vacancy, the total number of qualified permanent employees in appropriate lower titles in the unit scope exceed by fewer than three the total number of vacancies; 4. A list resulting from a promotional examination will be exhausted before all present or anticipated vacancies are filled; or 5. The title requires special, technical or professional training or qualifications which are not required in lower titles.

Classification Appeal: This is an appeal concerning the correct classification of a job (position). Any employee (or union representative) in the career or unclassified service in both State and local government may file a classification appeal. In local government, a civil service employer may also file a classification appeal. Typically, an employee filing this kind of appeal believes that his or her job duties are not the duties listed in the job specification of the title that the employee holds. The idea of this appeal is to either ask for incorrect duties to be removed from the employee's responsibility, add duties that are appropriate to the employee's title or change the employee's title to fit the duties he or she is actually performing. Pursuant to N.J.A.C. 4A:3-3.9(d)1., Classification Appeals are to be completed within 180 days.