New Jersey school boards would suspend accused staff without pay

School employees accused of criminal offenses involving one or more children, or unbecoming conduct involving one or more children, would be suspended without pay under a New Jersey proposal. The rule would apply to both tenured and nontenured staff, so the same child-safety trigger would reach the full district workforce.

A hard stop on pay

Assemblyman Al Barlas’s bill would require a board of education to spell out the basis for the suspension in a written notice. It would also give the employee 14 days from that notice to challenge the accuracy of the pending charge, pairing an immediate unpaid suspension with a short chance to answer it.

What happens if the charge sticks

If the charge is dismissed, the employee would go back to work right away with full pay from the first day of the suspension. If the charge ends in conviction, the worker would be ineligible to keep school employment and could not take a new job with any board of education in the state. The suspension itself would not be subject to grievance, appeals or tenure proceedings.