A disciplinary complaint against a New Jersey judge who let his secretary work remotely, allegedly in violation of court policy, is being criticized as overreaching.

Some observers have called the alleged misdeeds by Douglas Hurd, the presiding civil judge in Mercer County Superior Court, too trivial to warrant an ethics complaint. And the exercise of discipline against Hurd while he presides in a suit between the judiciary and a former municipal court judge has raised some eyebrows.