As reported by nj.com, the state’s highest ranking government officials will not be getting a raise any time soon. Republican legislative leaders and Governor Chris Christie’s office announced they would withhold appointments to a seven-member commission that meets every four years to set salaries for a broad range of officials from the governor on down. The move by the governor, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr., and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce deprives the panel, known as the Public Officers Salary Review Commission, of the quorum it needs to function.

A spokesman for the governor, Michael Drewniak, said the officials, including the governor, lawmakers, cabinet officials, state Superior Court judges, state Supreme Court justices, and several other positions, will have to wait at least four more years for a raise. Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver withdrew their appointments to the panel as well. Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the state judiciary, said Chief Justice Stuart Rabner made an appointment to the panel, but there was no need to withdraw it.

New Jersey lawmakers earn $49,000 a year with the exception of the Senate President and Assembly Speaker who make $65,333. Lawmakers last received a raise in 2002, when their salaries rose from $35,000 to $49,000, according to the librarian of the Office of Legislative Services, Peter Mazzei. Cabinet officials, who earn $141,000, also got their last raise in 2002. Judicial salaries, which range from $165,000 for Superior Court trial judges to $192,795 for the Supreme Court Chief Justice, last went up in 2009.  

The lack of a salary increase means high-level state employees will not be able to offset an increase in the cost of benefits, which takes effect October 14. The increase, recently approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Christie, has the highest-paid workers contributing as much as 30 percent of their health benefit premiums.

In July, state Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale filed a lawsuit against the controversial overhaul of pension and health benefits, contending it unconstitutionally “diminishes” judges’ salaries. A group of state employees who filed a separate lawsuit against the new law hopes to combine the two legal actions.

Tags: Articles, Christie, NJ judiciary, NJ state officials, Oliver, pay raises, Sweeney
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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