Provides for the recalculation and re-establishment of civil service lists based upon eligibility for credits pursuant to section 85-b as amended by chapter 376 of 2013

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill provides that notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any established eligible list that includes at least one candidate who meets the following criteria will be re-established. The criteria are:

1. Is the child of a police officer or firefighter that was killed in the line of duty, as such term is defined in Civil Service Law section 85-b;

2. Applied for additional credit based upon his or her parent's death for the examination from which the established eligible list was established;

3. Established that his or parent was killed in the line of duty, as such term is defined in Civil Service Law section 85-b;

4. Was denied such additional credit; and

5. Would have received such credit pursuant to Chapter 376 of the Laws of 2013.

When re-establishing an established eligible list, the following rules will apply:

1. All candidates who meet the criteria listed above will be awarded additional credit that will be added to the candidate's final earned rating and

2. The names of individuals who have been hired from the established eligible list shall not be included in the re-established eligible list.

Any appointment that was made from an established eligible list prior to its re-establishment shall not be rendered void or voidable solely on the basis that the appointee would not have been eligible for such appointment pursuant to the rule of three prescribed by Civil Service Law section 61.

Any change to a candidate's ranking upon the re-establishment of the eligible list shall not give rise to a cause of action.

Section 2 of the bill provides that upon the re-establishment of an established eligible list, the list upon which the re-established list is based shall terminate.

Section 3 of the bill provides that this bill shall take effect immediately.

Current law

Chapter 376 of the Laws of 2013 affords children of firefighter and police officers who were killed in the line of duty to obtain additional credit when the child's deceased parent's death was the natural and proximate result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or the rescue missions following the attack.

Justification

When the Legislature enacted S.5585/A.7631 of 2013, which became Chapter 376 of the Laws of 2013, the Legislature intended to accomplish two objectives. First, the Legislature sought to equalize the treatment of children and siblings of police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who have been killed in the line of duty by providing them with additional credit on any civil service exam for a position in the same municipality that the decedent's parent or sibling served. Second, the Legislature sought to remedy an unintended consequence of the lack of a definition of the term "killed in the line of duty" in Civil Service Law section 85-a. This unintended consequence was the denial of additional civil service exam credit to children of firefighters and police officers who died as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack.

The Legislature intended to reverse the denial of additional credit for these children of deceased firefighters and police officers regardless of whether the additional credit would affect an established eligible list. The Legislature's intent regarding existing eligible lists could have been effectuated administratively because the Civil Service Law allows the State Department of Civil Service and the municipal civil service commissions to terminate any established eligible list that has been in existence for at least one year and replace that list with a new eligible list. As the press has reported, this administrative solution did not happen in at least one instance, affecting at least 13 candidates.

The candidates that will benefit from this bill have not only suffered the loss of a parent as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack and rescue effort, they have also been told, through the denial of the additional credit afforded by Civil Service Law section 85-a because of an administrative interpretation of the term "killed in the line of duty" that excluded deaths that were the natural and proximate result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or the rescue missions following the attack, that their parents did not die in the line of duty. The parents of these candidates did die in the line of duty. This bill will honor the brave firefighters and police officers who lost their lives as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack and rescue effort by helping their children follow in their parent's footsteps.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.