Arbitrators make the final decision in hearings on tenure charges. Appeals are limited. However, the scope of their powers to fashion appropriate discipline was open to question. As I wrote last year, the Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court ruled in the case of Sanjuan v. School District of…
New Jersey employment law has few more contentious areas than tenure rights for public school teachers. I previously wrote about the Appellate Division decision in Parsells v. Board of Education of the Borough of Somerville. The case was subsequently appealed, and the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld the Appellate Division’s…
What is tenure? Under New Jersey employment law, tenure is an added layer of job protection for certain public school employees. What protections does tenure provide for eligible New Jersey education employees? New Jersey employment law provides that no education employee with tenure can be dismissed or have their…
The Appellate Division recently issued an important New Jersey employment law decision concerning the due process rights of tenured teachers. Tenured teachers have significantly more protections than untenured teachers. An untenured teacher is essentially an “employee-at-will” who may be terminated without cause; however, an untenured teacher has the right to…
In an important decision interpreting New Jersey employment law, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Melnyk versus the Delsea Regional High School District that analyzing whether a position is eligible for tenure protection depends on the statutory requirements, not on how the employer chooses to label it. Paula…
Both New Jersey’s tenure laws in Title 18A, which govern employees in New Jersey’s public schools, and the New Jersey Civil Service Act in Title 11A and Civil Service regulations are designed to ensure that government employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion, etc., are made based on merit rather…
Tenure is one of the most important protections for teachers in New Jersey employment law. Both full-time and part-time teachers may receive tenure protection. However, no New Jersey court has addressed the situation where a part-time tenured teacher’s earnings were reduced when her hours were cut, even though her hourly…
Under New Jersey employment law, specifically Section 6-14 of Title 18A of New Jersey Statutes, tenured teachers may be suspended on disciplinary charges with or without pay while their tenure charges are pending a determination. However, the statute provides that if an arbitrator has not issued a decision on the…