Appellate Division Demonstrates Why It Makes Sense to Pursue Civil Service Disciplinary Appeals. New Jersey civil service employees have protections which other employees do not. The heart of this is the opportunity to appeal major discipline imposed by their employers. A recent New Jersey appellate decision in the case of…
New Jersey Civil Service Law provides an effective appeals process for employees to use when challenging discipline imposed by their employers. This was recently illustrated in the case of In the Matter of Sherman Abrams, Northern State Prison, Department of Corrections. Background: The Abrams Case Sherman Abrams was, and…
A recent New Jersey employment law decision examined the procedures for reopening a Civil Service disciplinary appeal because of newly discovered evidence. The Newsom Case In the case of In the Matter of Kevin Newsom, New Jersey State Prison, Kevin Newsom, a civil service employee, was terminated as a corrections…
New Jersey’s Civil Service System was enacted to keep politics, discrimination, favoritism out of employment decisions. Therefore, civil service employees may only be disciplined for “just cause.” The New Jersey and Federal Constitutions require that before any government body may take action against anyone they must receive due process, which…
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. As far back as 1961, the Appellate Division gave a good summary of…
The Appellate Division recently issued a decision exploring the limits of progressive discipline in New Jersey civil service discipline in the case of Matter of Collins. Background Darius Collins was a senior corrections officer at Norther State Prison. He had been a corrections officer for more than two years…
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 New Jersey civil service law enforcement officer. Background Wilfredo Guzman was a police officer with the Rockaway Township Police Department, a…
As we have explained here before, the New Jersey Civil Service appeal process gives civil service employees a meaningful avenue for appealing discipline imposed by their government employers. However, a recent appellate opinion is a good reminder that this meaningful avenue for appeal is a two-way street. The New…
The State and Federal Constitutions require that when the government takes action against someone that person must receive due process. For Civil Service employees, that process is the disciplinary appeals process. Therefore, in the case of In re Smith, Irvington Township, Department of Public Safety, the Appellate Division ruled that…
New Jersey employment law provides that government employees may be fired for conviction of a crime, and for many crimes they must be fired. However, if they are exonerated they may be reinstated to their position. They may be subject to further discipline, but if they are not they may…