A municipality that chooses to bypass a higher ranking candidate on a competitive Civil Service examination must now provide the Department of Personnel with a legitimate explanatory written statement of reasons for doing so. The recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision in In Re Foglio makes clear that a municipality must have an articulable, legitimate reason based on a candidate’s merit for choosing a lower ranking candidate and the reason must be put in writing.

Ocean City sought to fill three vacant fire fighter positions from a list of three candidates certified by the Civil Service Commission. Ocean City bypassed the highest ranking candidate because a lower ranking candidate “best meets the needs of the department”. The Civil Service Commission found the City’s purported reason proper, but the Supreme Court held that the language “best meets the needs of the department” was boilerplate and did not reveal why the highest ranking candidate was bypassed.

 Henceforth, municipalities must be aware that a decision to bypass a higher ranking candidate must be supported by specific reasons, i.e. better interview performance, educational degrees or valuable employment history, submitted in writing to the Department of Personnel.