Senate Bill S5727A

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5727

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to providing salary
and other benefits to  state employees designated managerial or confi-
dential

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To provide parity between salary increases and longevity payments
between management or confidential employees and union-represented
employees

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of this bill adds a new section 137 to Civil Service Law to
provide that state employees designated management/confidential (M/C)
shall receive the same percentage increases in salary as employees in
the professional, scientific, and technical services bargaining unit
              

(represented by the NYS Public Employees Federation, or PEF) starting
July 1st, 2021, which is the effective date of the bill.

This section also provides that M/Cs at or below salary grade 17 shall
receive longevity lump sum payments equal to those received by employees
in the state's administrative services bargaining unit, represented by
the Civil Service Employee Association (CSEA). M/Cs at or above salary
grade 18 shall receive longevity lump sum payments equal to those
received by PEF members.

Section two of this bill provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

State employees designated Managerial or Confidential under the Taylor
Law are unable to join unions for the purposes of collective bargaining.
"M/C" employees are therefore unrepresented by unions. As a result, M/C
employees have long been denied certain salary increases and benefits
offered to their union-represented coworkers even though they often
share the very same titles. In 2009 and 2010, union-represented employ-
ees received 3% and 4% general salary increases, respectively, while M/C
employees had those general salary increases denied. This was compounded
by three consecutive years of zero increases. While the base salary of
M/C employees was increased incrementally beginning in 2014, there was
no repayment of forfeited past earnings. This caused the permanent loss
of earnings, the permanent loss of retirement pension credit from
forfeited earnings, the permanent loss of wages for Social Security
contributions, and, upon retirement, a reduction in the value of sick
leave used to fund health insurance premiums.M/C employees were singled
out again in 2020; while both M/C and union-represented employees had
their general salary increases withheld due to the State's budgetary
shortfall, only union-represented employees continued to receive longev-
ity payments and performance advances.

Beyond the financial damage and destruction of morale, other tangible
impacts of this disparate treatment include the loss of disaffected M/C
employees who transfer to union-represented positions or retire.  Hiring
for M/C positions has become difficult as M/C compensation is so uncom-
petitive that there is no financial incentive to take on greater respon-
sibility in M/C positions that offer little or no salary increase.

The proposed legislation would provide parity between M/Cs and their
union-represented workers in three critical areas. First, by providing
M/C employees with the same general salary increases provided to the
State's largest bargaining unit, the Professional, Scientific, and Tech-
nical Services Unit. Second, by establishing and matching longevity
payments made to those of comparable bargaining units: the Administra-
tive Services Unit for clerical and administrative M/C employees and the
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Unit for M/C employees
in the professional ranks (it should be noted that only M/C employees
below salary grade 18 now receive longevity payments while their coun-
terparts in the unionized workforce receive longevity payments at all
salary grades). Third, by guaranteeing that the payment of performance
advances to M/C employees, like those paid to the unionized workforce,
is not withheld except due to documented unsatisfactory work perform-
ance.

State legislators must recognize the valuable contributions of M/C
employees and guarantee that they will be treated no worse than their
union-represented coworkers. New York State's budget deficit cannot be
balanced on the backs of 10,000 working men and women in the state's M/C
workforce through lesser salary and benefits.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on July 1st, 2021.