New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 17 - TREASURY - GENERAL › Chapter 4 - POLICE AND FIREMEN'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM › Subchapter 2 - ENROLLMENT › Section 17:4-2.5 - Age requirements

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Applicants must
				be appointed to an eligible title on or prior to their 35th birthday.
(b) The age of candidates for positions
				covered by the PFRS with employers who have adopted the provisions of Title 11A
				of the New Jersey Statutes (Civil Service) is determined at the announced
				closing date of the examination offered by the Civil Service Commission for
				those positions. Candidates must not be one day past the date of their 35th
				birthday on the announced closing date of the examination. Those candidates
				meeting the age requirements at that time will be considered as having met the
				age maximum requirement for the duration of the list promulgated as a result of
				such examination.
(c)
									38:23A-1 et seq. is recognized as
				a modification of the age maximum for certain "veterans." Persons having served
				in the active military service of the United States during "time of war" and
				conflict as defined in
				43:16A-11.7 can for the purpose of
				meeting the maximum age requirement for entrance into this retirement system
				reduce their actual age by the stipulated period of such military service.
				Should this reduced age meet the age maximum in effect, the applicant will be
				considered as having met the age maximum for enrollment.
(d) The period of time to be deducted from an
				individual's age is limited to actual time served during the war or conflict.
				Earlier or later periods of military service cannot be used to reduce
				individuals' ages so as to enable them to meet any maximum age
				limits.
(e) Any active military
				service terminating in dishonorable discharge is not creditable.
(f) An applicant is permitted to reduce their
				actual age in order to meet the maximum age requirement of 35 years for the
				position of municipal police officer if, in accordance with
				40A:14-127.1, they have previous
				service as a former State trooper, sheriff's officer or deputy, or county or
				municipal police officer. Prior experience in Federal law enforcement agencies
				or in law enforcement agencies of other states that would meet the requirements
				of police officer in New Jersey would also qualify for the purpose of reducing
				the candidate's age for the position of a municipal police officer. "Age
				reductions" may also be granted for persons seeking employment as municipal
				police officers who have prior service with the Delaware River Port Authority
				Police, Amtrak or South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
				police departments. No person may be appointed over the age of 45 except for
				those who were previously involuntarily terminated from their former law
				enforcement officer employment.
(g)
				Individuals seeking employment with a municipality in an eligible PFRS title
				who are over age 35 on the closing date of the examination with a Civil Service
				employer or over age 35 on the date of hire with a non-Civil Service employer,
				even after "reductions in age" have been taken into account, cannot establish
				membership in any State-administered retirement system. Since enrollment in the
				PFRS is a condition of employment (43:16A-3(1)
				 ), these individuals cannot be
				hired.
(h) Municipal statutes
				provide that in some situations volunteer and exempt firefighters in
				municipalities may be appointed to full-time firefighter positions if they are
				not over 40 years of age at the time of their appointments. This proper
				appointment of someone who is past their 35th birthday to a municipal fire
				department does not negate the eligibility requirement that someone not be past
				their 35th birthday to be enrolled in the PFRS. Therefore, any appointees under
				this provision are required to enroll in the PERS.