Relates to the re-employment of retired persons by the board of higher education of the city of New York

Reasons for support

Section 150 of the New York State Civil Service Law and § 1117 of the New York City Charter provide, as a general rule, that a person retired from public service shall have his or her pension suspended during any subsequent period of re-employment in public service. Exceptions to this general rule, however, are provided by RSSL §§ 211 and 212. Those sections permit re-employment in public service without diminution or suspension of a retiree's pension in certain well-defined instances and only after compliance with strict guidelines and procedures.

One such exception specified by RSSL § 211 provides that where a prospective public employer can make a compelling case for employing a retired person, such person can be re-employed with only a reduction of - as opposed to the suspension of - his or her pension or, in some cases, with no reduction at all. In accordance with RSSL § 211(2), requests for these exemptions must be presented to one of seven officers or entities in New York State.

RSSL § 211(2) (a) (3) currently specifies that prospective re-employment with the City of New York or the classified services (that is, non-peda- gogical staffs) of either DOE or CUNY must be reviewed by DCAS, the City's municipal civil service commission. With respect to City employ- ment and employment in the non-pedagogical staff of DOE, DCAS's respon- sibility to review such requests is appropriate. As the municipal commission for these entities, DCAS administers the civil service system

for them, including classifying their civil service titles, administer- ing civil service examinations for competitive class title, and certify- ing the names of eligible candidates to fill vacancies in positions. Moreover, until 1988, this responsibility was appropriate with respect to reemployment with CUNY, because, until 1988, the City's DOP also served as the municipal civil service commission for CUNY. In 1988, however, the Board of Trustees of CUNY was authorized to establish its own civil service commission, separate and independent from DOP. The Board appointed the first Commission in 1989, and adopted the Rules and Regulations of the Civil Service Commission on July 18, 1989. CUNY's creation of its own independent municipal civil service commission meant that it was no longer under the jurisdiction of DOP. Despite this significant change, however, the language in RSSL § 211 was not similar- ly changed; consequently, DCAS still approves approximately two new waivers and, on the average, three § 211 waiver renewals for CUNY each year. This bill would change the law as it is currently written to exclude CUNY from the list of entities for which DCAS will consider requests for § 211 waivers.

Because this review for re-employment in public service still must be conducted by some entity, this bill also contains a corresponding proposed amendment to subparagraph (5) of RSSL § 211 (2) (a), which would give CUNY the authority to evaluate waivers for retired persons seeking re-employment in its own classified service, in addition to the waivers it already evaluates for re-employment in its unclassified service. Such change reflects the proposed amendment to subparagraph (3) above, and vests in CUNY the authority to review all waiver requests for its own prospective employees.

In view of the fact that CUNY is no longer under the jurisdiction of DCAS for the administration of its civil service, it no longer makes legal or operational sense to require that DCAS evaluate CUNY requests for retired persons to return to its service without a suspension or diminution of existing pension benefits.

Accordingly, the Mayor urges the earliest possible favorable consider- ation of this proposal by the Legislature.

Financial impact

Minimal, to address any possible administrative costs associated with changing the approving entity for these 211 waivers.

Effective date

Immediately.