SENATE, No. 1476

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED SEPTEMBER 19, 1996

 

 

By Senators O'CONNOR, KENNY and Sacco

 

 

An Act concerning reimbursement of costs incurred in the training and hiring of sheriff's officers in certain cases and supplementing chapter 14 of Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. Whenever a person who resigns as a sheriff's officer is appointed to the police department of a municipality within 120 days of resignation, and that person held a probationary appointment at the time of resignation or held a permanent appointment for 30 days or less prior to resignation, the municipality appointing the person is liable to the former employer of the sheriff's officer for the total certified costs incurred by the former employer in the examination, hiring and training of the person.

    Whenever a person who resigns as a sheriff's officer is appointed to the police department of a municipality within 120 days of resignation, and that person, at the time of resignation held a permanent appointment for more than 30 days but less than two years, the municipality appointing the person is liable to the former employer of the sheriff's officer for one-half of the total certified costs incurred by the former employer in the examination, hiring and training of the person.

    The appointing municipality shall notify the former employer of the sheriff's officer immediately upon the appointment of its former employee and shall reimburse the former employer within 120 days of the receipt of the certified costs from the county. Any disputes concerning the amount of the certified costs shall be submitted to the Attorney General for resolution.

    For the purposes of this act, "total certified costs" means and includes, but is not limited to, the costs of all qualifying examinations and the public advertisements for these examinations, police training course fees and the base salary received while attending the training course.

 

    2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the second month after enactment.

STATEMENT

 

    This bill requires municipal police departments which hire certain persons as police officers within 120 days of their resignation as sheriff's officers to reimburse their former employers for costs incurred in their hiring and training.

    If the person resigned as a sheriff's officer during the period of probationary appointment or within the first 30 days of permanent appointment, the police department would be required to reimburse the officer's former employer for the total certified costs incurred in examining, hiring and training the officer. If the person who resigned as a sheriff's officer held a permanent appointment to that position for more than 30 days but less than two years, the police department hiring that person would be required to reimburse the officer's former employer for one-half of the total certified costs. These costs are defined by the bill as the costs of qualifying examinations, advertisements for these examinations, course fees, and the base salary received by the officer while attending the training course.

    These requirements are similar to those now provided under P.L.1987, c.47 (C.40A:14-178) for the hiring and training of county and municipal police officers by other counties and municipalities.

 

 

                             

 

Requires reimbursement to counties for training costs of certain former employees.