Police promotion exams, seniority and bypass appeals

By the closing date an applicant needs one year of continuous permanent service in a title the examination is open to, current service in the announced unit scope, no performance rating below Successful in the two rating periods before the closing date, and an application filed on time.^[2] In local service, promotion from an entry level law enforcement or firefighter title takes three years of continuous permanent service instead. Experience from out-of-title work does not count unless the Chair or a designee allows it for good cause. An appointing authority may ask to cut the time requirement to completion of the working test period when a list would be incomplete or vacancies would outrun it.

Announcements, closing dates and past results for these examinations are on NJ Civil Service Navigator's police promotional exam pages.

A score may be computed by a statistical method, and an examination in parts may be rated part by part; failing one part fails the whole, and a failing candidate gets no seniority credit.^[3]Seniority counts continuous permanent service, with paid leaves and several kinds of unpaid leave left in. Suspensions, other unpaid leave and time laid off are deducted. In local police and fire examinations the credit for record of service is also reduced by disciplinary suspensions received in the five years before the closing date, so a disciplinary suspension can weigh on an officer's promotional standing for five years. Ties are not broken.

The windows are short. For a multiple choice test, a candidate may arrange within five business days to review the keyed booklet, and may appeal a keyed answer or the job-relatedness of the content within five business days of that review, or of the test for a candidate who did not review.^[4] Twenty days after the results notice, candidates may see their papers and the key, and appeals in that period are limited to the scoring of their own paper. Other kinds of test allow 20 days from the review or the results notice. A complaint about how the test was administered has to be filed in writing at the site on the day. The Commission decides these appeals on the written record unless it chooses another proceeding.

Make-ups for police, correction, sheriff's officer and other public safety promotional examinations are narrower than for other titles: a debilitating injury or illness with a doctor's certification, a death in the immediate family, the candidate's own wedding, return from military service, or an error by the Commission or the appointing authority.^[5] The request is due in writing within five days, and a public safety make-up must differ in content from the original.