NJSA 18A:37-30 provides that
nothing contained in the Anti-Bullying
Act shall be construed as affecting
the provisions of any collective
bargaining agreement or individual
contract of employment in effect on
that act’s effective date.
New Jersey First Act –
Residency Requirement
Effective September 1, 2011, New
Jersey public employees must comply
with the New Jersey First Act.
Generally, the Act requires public
employees holding a position on or
after the effective date to have New
Jersey as her/his principal residence.
If you begin your office, position, or
employment on September 1, 2011,
or later, you must live in New Jersey
unless otherwise exempted. If you
do not live in New Jersey, you have
one year after the date you start
your job to relocate your residence
to New Jersey. If you do not do so,
you may be removed from your
office, position, or employment.
Those holding public employment
before September 1, 2011, and living
outside of New Jersey are exempt
provided they continue to hold their
position without a break in service
of more than 7 days. Exemptions to
the residency requirement may be
granted based on a proven “critical
need or hardship.” A Q. and A.
from the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development is located
at http://www.state.nj.us/csc/about/
news/safety/pdf/NJ percent20First
percent20Act percent20Residency
percent20memo.pdf
52:14-7. State public officers, employees
and persons holding a
position in government; residency
requirement; exemption; penalty
for letting, transferring, etc. of office
or position; appointment where
scientific engineering skills required;
84 – AR Handbook
illegal holding of office, employment
or position; ouster
Every person holding an office, employment,
or position
1. in the Executive, Legislative, or
Judicial Branch of this State, or
2. with an authority, board,
body, agency, commission, or
instrumentality of the State
including any State college,
university, or other higher
educational institution, and, to
the extent consistent with law,
any interstate agency to which
New Jersey is a party, or
3. with a county, municipality,
or other political subdivision
of the State or an authority,
board, body, agency, district,
commission, or instrumentality
of the county, municipality, or
subdivision, or
4. with a school district or an
authority, board, body, agency,
commission, or instrumentality
of the district, shall have his or
her principal residence in this
State and shall execute such
office, employment, or position.
This residency requirement shall not
apply to any person
(a) who is employed on a temporary
or per-semester basis as a
visiting professor, teacher,
lecturer, or researcher by any
State college, university, or other
higher educational institution,
or county or community
college, or in a full or part-time
position as a member of the
faculty, the research staff, or
the administrative staff by any
State college, university, or other
higher educational institution,
or county or community college,
that the college, university,
or institution has included in
the report required to be filed
pursuant to this subsection, or
(b) who is employed full-time by
the State who serves in an office,
employment, or position that
requires the person to spend the
majority of his or her working
hours in a location outside of
this State.
For the purposes of this subsection,
a person may have at most one
principal residence, and the state of
a person’s principal residence means
the state
1. where the person spends
the majority of his or her
nonworking time, and
2. which is most clearly the center
of his or her domestic life, and
3. which is designated as his or
her legal address and legal
residence for voting. The fact
that a person is domiciled in this
State shall not by itself satisfy
the requirement of principal
residency hereunder.
A person, regardless of the office,
employment, or position, who holds
an office, employment, or position
in this State on the effective date of
P.L.2011, c. 701 but does not have
his or her principal residence in this
State on that effective date shall not
be subject to the residency requirement
of this subsection while the
person continues to hold office,
employment, or position without
a break in public service of greater
than seven days.
Any person may request an exemption
from the provisions of this
subsection on the basis of critical
need or hardship from a five-member
committee hereby established
to consider applications for such
exemptions. The committee shall be
composed of three persons appointed
by the Governor, a person
appointed by the Speaker of the
General Assembly, and a person
appointed by the President of the