Provides a procedure for determining suspensions and demotions of members of police agencies upon abolition or reduction of positions

1 Co-sponsor

• Jack M. Martins

BILL NUMBER:S7075

Title of bill

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to the calculation of seniority for purposes of layoffs or demotions

Purpose

The purpose of this proposed Bill is to amend § 80 of the New York State Civil Service Law which pertains to suspension or demotion upon the abolition or reduction of positions in the Civil Service as it applies to any members of any police agency in the State other than those police agencies already dealt with by §§ 1-a through 1-d of § 80. Specif- ically, this amendment seeks to base demotions and/or reductions in force on time in grade or title as opposed to time in the classified service. This amendment would address a longstanding problem in the police community, as witnessed by the fact that 4 police agencies (the City of Buffalo Police and Fire Departments, employees of secure detention facilities in the State of New York, sworn employees of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, and the Nassau County Police Depart- ment) have already obtained passage of existing subdivisions 1-a through 1-d changing the measure from time in the classified service to time in grade or title.

Justification

Under the current law, suspensions or demotions in the Civil Service upon the abolition or reduction of positions must be made based upon seniority, with demotions or reductions in force to be made in "inverse order of original appointment on a permanent basis in the classified service" (CSL, § 80, § 1). The spirit of the law is to safeguard the employment of those employees with the most time in the system, with the general principle being "last in - first out". In the uniformed services, this law can have a reverse effect essentially retaining employees with shorter tenures in the civil service rank while demoting those with longer tenures in rank. For example, a police officer with ten years in rank as a Sergeant would have to be demoted before a police officer with 1 year in rank as a Sergeant if the latter had more time in the classified service. As mentioned above, several uniformed services operations have recognized this inequity and obtained individual legis- lative amendments to § 80 of the New York Civil Service Law requiring said demotions and reductions to be made by "inverse order of original appointment on a permanent basis in the grade or title". We believe that this is the preferred and equitable method to handle these issues within the context of the police community and that it should be adopted state- wide, which this bill would do.

Summary of provisions

This Bill would add a new subsection 1-e to §80 of the New York State Civil Service Law to provide that in any police agency in the State of New York other than those already dealt with in subsections 1-a through 1-d of § 80, demotions or reductions in staff upon the abolition or reduction of positions would be made in inverse order of original

appointment on a permanent basis in the grade or title in the service of the governmental jurisdiction in which such abolition or reduction of position occurs.

Fiscal impact

None.

Effective date

Immediately.