N.J.A.C. 4A:2-2.10
Back pay, benefits and seniority
When a penalty is reversed, the Commission awards back pay, benefits, seniority, or restitution of a fine, and it may award them when a penalty is modified. Back pay covers unpaid salary, increments, and across-the-board adjustments, and it is reduced by other earnings and by amounts normally withheld. An employee who was out of work has to have made reasonable efforts to find suitable employment. The mitigation rule has structure: it applies to removals and to suspensions longer than 30 working days, reasonable efforts mean things like applying for suitable positions and reviewing job listings, suitable means comparable in duties, responsibilities, location, and salary, and the burden is on the employer to show the efforts were not made. Overtime, holiday premium pay, and allowances for periods not worked stay out of the award, and unreasonable delay caused by the employee, or a period of disability, can reduce it.
Key points, as written in the regulation[1]
- Where a disciplinary penalty has been reversed, the Commission shall award back pay, benefits, seniority or restitution of a fine.
- Back pay shall include unpaid salary, including regular wages, overlap shift time, increments and
- an award of back pay, benefits and seniority shall be calculated from the effective date of the appointing authority's improper action to the date of the employee's actual
Related in NJCSNavigator
- NJ civil service salary schedules Back pay is calculated against the classified salary schedule and step increments NJCSNavigator's salary lookup covers.
- back pay, benefits and seniority on reversal What is restored when discipline is overturned, and how it is calculated.
Sources
- [1]N.J.A.C. 4A:2-2.10. New Jersey Office of Administrative Law (N.J.A.C.). Current through New Jersey Register, Vol. 58 No. 12, June 15, 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-04. ↩