Certain employment classification and salary schedules recommended to the City for adoption by the Civil Service Commission of the State of New Jersey are made part of this article in their entirety, as if specifically set forth herein. These schedules have been filed with the City Clerk and shall remain on file with the Clerk. The schedules shall be as follows:
A. 
Schedule 1: a schedule of catalogued lists of the previously existing employees of the City with the title of each employee, the salary paid and the date of election or appointment.
B. 
Schedule 2: a schedule of all positions in the City and containing the duties, typical tasks, minimum qualifications, probable line of promotion and salary range for each position.
Schedule 2 is adopted as the official civil service classification of positions and employees in and for the City.
The specifications provided in this article shall not in themselves be construed to define or prescribe the organization or procedure under which employees shall work, nor to limit or restrict the responsible administrative officials in exercising supervision or assigning such other duties as may be in the interest of good administration or necessary in case of emergency, provided that this article shall not be interpreted as authorization to assign, detail or transfer an employee to a position involving duties of an essentially different character.
The standard titles set forth in Schedule 2 shall be applied to all offices, positions and employments in the classified civil service of the City. Changes in titles shall not alter or affect the salaries of permanent incumbents of offices or positions so rearranged. The standard titles shall be used to designate positions in all reports to the Civil Service Commission, departmental records and all payrolls or accounts of salaries and wages of all departments, institutions and commissions submitted to the Civil Service Commission for check and certification.
All departmental requests for additions to or changes in the specifications involving either the classification or compensation schedules, together with full reporting of maintenance requests, shall be first presented to the Council which shall, as it deems proper, forward the requests together with their recommendations to the Commission for investigation and consideration. No reclassification, change in compensation schedules or maintenance allowance shall be effective until it has the approval of the Council and the Commission.
When new positions are to be created, the department head shall submit, through the City Clerk, to the Commission a statement of the duties, qualifications, requirements and other matters affecting the proper classification, title, grade and compensation and the necessity for the creation of such position. No office or employment shall be considered new unless the duties thereof are found to be substantially different from those of every other existing position in the classified service of the City. When the Commission finds that an office or employment is, in fact, new or that the requested changes affecting any existing position should be made, the Commission shall so classify such position under the appropriate service grade and title and it shall become a part of the classification of the City upon approval of the Council and the Commission.
Appointments to a newly created or vacant office or employment shall be made at the lowest rate within the standard range of compensation for such office or employment. In cases of promotion where the employee to be promoted is receiving compensation equal to or greater than the minimum rate established for the position to which promotion is to be made, appointment shall be made at the next salary rate higher than the compensation received by such employee.
A. 
Advancements.
(1) 
Advancement to the next higher rate within the range of compensation provided for a particular position is conditional upon service at each rate for at least the period specified in the schedules, or later determined upon by the Council, and shall be made at such periods as may be determined by the Council for all officers and employees who are eligible to advance after the completion of the designated period of satisfactory service. Unless otherwise provided, proof of satisfactory and meritorious service shall be established for all employees in the classified civil service through efficiency records of the departments which shall be kept in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations and in the form approved by the Civil Service Commission.
(2) 
No advancement in salary shall be granted to an employee whose average net efficiency for the six months preceding the date of request for advancement in salary is less than 75%.
B. 
Advancement not mandatory. It shall not be mandatory for the head of the department, institution or commission to advance an officer or employee to the next higher salary rate within the range of compensation provided for the position merely because such officer or employee has served at the lower salary rate for a certain period of time.
C. 
Salary above grade. An increase above the maximum salary rate of an existing position shall not be made except in case of increased duties or responsibilities which actually involve a change of position or until changes in the prevailing compensation schedule for the position or positions in question are made as provided in this section.
D. 
Salary over maximum. An employee receiving the maximum of the salary established for such position, or more than the maximum so established in this classification and compensation plan, shall not receive further advancement in compensation so long as he/she continues to serve in such classification or position.
Promotions from one class to the next higher class of position in the classified civil service involve a change of duties and shall be made only when a vacancy has been created by resignation, transfer, death or dismissal or when the needs of the service require additional employees in the higher position.
All employees of the City on November 7, 1944, the date on which civil service was adopted by referendum of the voters of the City, who continue as employees of the City shall continue in the salaries which they are then receiving until the same are changed by ordinance.