New Jersey employee psychological testing and psychological appeals

If you are attempting to get a job with the state, you may be removed from the civil service list due to mental health issues and your failure to pass the appropriate test. You may receive a notice that says “Your name was removed from this list because you do not meet the psychological and/or psychiatric standards”. While you have the right to appeal, you have to move quickly. Our office has a long history of helping state employees and applicants for employment with the state win
psychological appeals. If you already have a state job, you may be subject to major discipline for inability to perform duties due to psychological testing. In other words, you likely failed a fitness for duty test.

First, it is important to note that your employer cannot just order a test because they feel like it. In re Vey, 124 N.J. 534, 541 (1991), identifies the steps required to validate psychological testing in the workplace: (1) “the employer must specify the trait or characteristic that the selection device is being used to identify or measure”; (2) “the employer must establish that the particular trait or characteristic is an important element of work behavior”; (3) “the employer must
`demonstrate by professionally acceptable methods that the selection device is predictive of or significantly correlated with the element of work behavior identified in the second step.'” Ibid. If any of that criteria is missing, you will have a great defense. Of course, that does not mean that your defense are limited to that standard since most defense are not. That’s just one of the first things that we look at.

Quite often, the primary defense is attacking the test results. We do this a number of ways from attacking the methods, the person administering the testing, the report submitted or by hiring our own expert who opposes the State’s expert or even some combination of these defenses. No matter what the facts of your case are, rest assured that we will use our experience to help win your psychological appeal. Call us at 1-855-9-JEFLAW to discuss.