NY State Senate Bill 2017-S8152

Senate Bill S8152

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Declares that all competitive class employees are entitled to collective bargaining with respect to matters pertaining to disciplinary procedures

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Civil Service And Pensions Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 09, 2018	referred to civil service and pensions

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2017-S8152 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A10370
Current Committee:: Senate Civil Service And Pensions
Law Section:: Civil Service Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §76, Civ Serv L

2017-S8152 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Declares that all competitive class employees are entitled to collective bargaining with respect to matters pertaining to disciplinary procedures.

2017-S8152 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8152

SPONSOR: GOLDEN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to the negotiability
of disciplinary procedures affecting employees in the competitive class
of civil service of the state of New York or any civil division thereof

 
PROVISIONS OF THE BILL:

This bill amends Section 76 of the Civil Service Law to modify the
language of subpart 4 thereof relied on by several courts in holding
disciplinary procedures to be outside the protection of the Taylor Law
where any other law commits discipline to the discretion of local offi-
cials and to make it clear that police officers and all other compet-
itive class public employees in this state are entitled to collectively
bargain the disciplinary procedures that affect them in their employ-
ment. The bill would also restore the provisions of any collective
bargaining agreements or interest arbitration awards between public
employers and public employee organizations relative to discipline that
were invalidated by judicial or administrative decisions since the

Matter of Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of The City Of New York,
Inc. v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (New York City
PBA case") was decided in 2006.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The fundamental purpose of the Taylor Law adopted in 1967 was to make
all term and conditions of employment in the public sector subject to
collective bargaining. Early Taylor Law decisions established that
disciplinary procedures were terms and conditions of employment subject
to collective bargaining, and many collective bargaining agreements
containing disciplinary provisions and procedures were adopted across
the state, including those negotiated by police labor unions. Over time,
a series of judicial decisions, including most notably the New York City
PBA case decided by the Court of Appeals in 2006, found a countervailing
policy in favor of strong local control of discipline to override the
public policy expressed in the Taylor Law favoring the collective
bargaining of all terms and conditions of employment based on language
in the current section 76(4) to the effect that sections 75 and 76 did
not repeal or modify any local law or charter provisions vesting control
of discipline in local authorities. Although the New York City PBA case
involved the New York City Charter and the Rockland County Police Act,
the Court in its decision also noted that the Town Law and the Village
Law also contained provisions favoring the local control of police
discipline that would override the Taylor Law presumption of negotiabil-
ity.

Thus, at the present time, all police officers in the City of New York,
in Rockland County, and numerous other towns and villages across the
state have had their contractual disciplinary procedures taken away from
them without compensation and are subject to autocratic local control of
the discipline of their members without even the rudimentary protections
provided in sections 75 and 76 of the Civil Service Law which were
adopted in 1958, 9 years prior to the Taylor Law. Every police officer
employed in any town or village in the State of New York that has not
already been divested of his contractual disciplinary procedure is
subject to immediate divestment by the simple expedient of the passage
by the town or village that employs him of a local law declaring local
control over police discipline.

This bill would legislatively overrule the judicial decisions on this
issue and would belatedly make sections 75 and 76 of the Civil Service
Law consistent with the Taylor Law by declaring it to be the public
policy of the State of New York that all terms and conditions of public
employment including police discipline are subject to mandatory negotia-
bility under the Taylor Law. It would also restore those collective
bargaining provisions that were previously declared invalid on grounds
of public policy by prior judicial or administrative decisions.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2014: S.7801 - Pocket Veto, Veto #589

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2017-S8152 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8152
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               April 9, 2018
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  GOLDEN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to the  negotiability
   of  disciplinary  procedures  affecting  employees  in the competitive
   class of civil service of the state of New York or any civil  division
   thereof

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative  findings  and  declarations.  The  Taylor  Law
 requires collective bargaining over all "terms and conditions of employ-
 ment."  Our courts have often stressed the importance of this policy and
 have made clear that "the presumption...that all terms and conditions of
 employment  are  subject to mandatory bargaining" cannot easily be over-
 come. IN THE MATTER OF PATROLMEN'S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION OF THE CITY OF
 NEW YORK, INC. V. NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT  RELATIONS  BOARD,  6
 N.Y.  3d  563  at 572 (2006) (Hereinafter NYC PBA case).  However, while
 paying homage to our state's  strong  and  sweeping  policy  to  support
 collective  bargaining  of  all terms and conditions of employment under
 the Taylor Law, the Court of Appeals in the case cited above  held  that
 that  policy  must  yield  to  any  other legislation which specifically
 commits police discipline to the discretion of local officials,  includ-
 ing  the  New York City charter, the Rockland County Police Act, section
 155 of the town law and section 8-804 of the village law, provided  only
 that those laws were passed prior to 1958 when Sections 75 and 76 of the
 civil  service  law  providing  minimum  or back-stop provisions for due
 process disciplinary procedures for public employees  were  enacted.  In
 doing so, the court cited specifically to the first sentence of subdivi-
 sion  4  of section 76 of the civil service law which says that sections
 75 and 76 of the civil service law shall not be construed to  repeal  or
 modify  pre-existing laws relating to the removal or suspension of offi-
 cers or employees in the competitive class of the civil service  of  the
 state or any civil division.
   Since  the  Taylor Law was enacted in 1967 making all terms and condi-
 tions of employment subject to collective bargaining, matters pertaining
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD15342-01-8

 S. 8152                             2
 
 to employee discipline, including  disciplinary  procedures,  have  been
 negotiated  into many collective bargaining agreements in municipalities
 across the state covering  all  types  of  public  employees,  including
 police  officers.  Those agreements were honored until 2006 when the NYC
 PBA case was decided. The impact of the NYC PBA case has been to deprive
 many, but not all, police officers of the right to enforce their negoti-
 ated disciplinary procedures and of the right  to  collectively  bargain
 with  regard  to matters pertaining to discipline in the future that all
 other public employees enjoy. The purpose of this act  is  to  expressly
 overrule  this  decision  and those that have followed it and to replace
 them with a legislative declaration that police officers and  all  other
 competitive class public employees in the state of New York are entitled
 to collectively bargain with respect to all matters pertaining to disci-
 pline  and,  in  the  absence of a negotiated procedure, to at least the
 minimum due process protections provided by sections 75 and  76  of  the
 civil service law.
   §  2. Subdivision 4 of section 76 of the civil service law, as amended
 by chapter 283 of the laws of 1972, is amended and a new  subdivision  5
 is added to read as follows:
   4.  [Nothing  contained in section seventy-five or seventy-six of this
 chapter shall be construed to repeal or modify any general,  special  or
 local  law or charter provision relating to the removal or suspension of
 officers or employees in the competitive class of the civil  service  of
 the  state  or  any  civil  division. Such sections may be supplemented,
 modified or replaced by agreements negotiated between the state  and  an
 employee  organization  pursuant  to  article  fourteen of this chapter.
 Where such sections are  so  supplemented,  modified  or  replaced,  any
 employee against whom charges have been preferred prior to the effective
 date of such supplementation, modification or replacement shall continue
 to  be  subject  to  the provisions of such sections as in effect on the
 date such charges were preferred.] THIS SECTION OR SECTION  SEVENTY-FIVE
 OF  THIS  TITLE  SHALL  BE  CONSTRUED  TO  REPEAL OR MODIFY ANY GENERAL,
 SPECIAL OR LOCAL LAW OR CHARTER PROVISION RELATING  TO  THE  REMOVAL  OR
 SUSPENSION  OF  OFFICERS  OR  EMPLOYEES  IN THE COMPETITIVE CLASS OF THE
 CIVIL SERVICE OF THE STATE OR  ANY  CIVIL  DIVISION.  THIS  SECTION  AND
 SECTION  SEVENTY-FIVE  OF  THIS  TITLE  MAY BE SUPPLEMENTED, MODIFIED OR
 REPLACED BY AGREEMENTS NEGOTIATED BETWEEN THE  STATE  OR  ANY  POLITICAL
 SUBDIVISION  THEREOF  AND  AN  EMPLOYEE ORGANIZATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE
 FOURTEEN OF THIS CHAPTER. WHERE SUCH SECTIONS ARE SO SUPPLEMENTED, MODI-
 FIED OR REPLACED, ANY EMPLOYEE AGAINST WHOM CHARGES HAVE BEEN  PREFERRED
 PRIOR  TO  THE  EFFECTIVE  DATE OF SUCH SUPPLEMENTATION, MODIFICATION OR
 REPLACEMENT SHALL CONTINUE TO BE  SUBJECT  TO  THE  PROVISIONS  OF  SUCH
 SECTIONS AS IN EFFECT ON THE DATE SUCH CHARGES WERE PREFERRED.
   5. THE TERMS OF ANY CURRENT OR EXPIRED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
 OR INTEREST ARBITRATION AWARD BETWEEN ANY PUBLIC EMPLOYER AND ANY PUBLIC
 EMPLOYEE  ORGANIZATION  RELATING  TO ANY ASPECT OF POLICE OFFICER DISCI-
 PLINE WHICH WERE INVALIDATED OR RENDERED UNENFORCEABLE BY ANY  DECISION,
 ORDER  OR JUDGEMENT OF ANY COURT, ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY OR OTHER ADJUDI-
 CATORY TRIBUNAL ON GROUNDS OF PUBLIC POLICY SHALL BE DEEMED  VALID  FROM
 THE DATE ANY SUCH AGREEMENTS OR AWARDS WERE FIRST REACHED OR ISSUED, AND
 THOSE  AGREEMENTS  OR  AWARDS  SHALL  BE  APPLIED AND ENFORCED AS TO ANY
 DISCIPLINARY CHARGES PENDING ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION
 AND TO ANY DISCIPLINARY CHARGES FILED THEREAFTER.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S8152

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Sponsored By

Martin J. Golden