What's happening
This bill ensures that discipline and disciplinary procedures for firefighters and police officers remain mandatory subjects of collective bargaining, overriding conflicting state or local laws.
Why it matters
Overrides local and state laws that limit collective bargaining on discipline. By explicitly stating that no state, local, or special law can prevent or restrict negotiations about disciplinary procedures for firefighters and police officers, the bill shifts power to unions and employees, ensuring these topics must be included in bargaining—even if other laws say otherwise.
Protects existing and past union agreements about discipline. The bill retroactively validates and enforces any current or expired union contracts or arbitration awards dealing with firefighter and police discipline, meaning that even older agreements cannot be nullified based on conflicting laws or court rulings.
Clarifies and strengthens union rights in disciplinary matters. The amendment directly responds to recent court decisions that limited negotiation over disciplinary procedures, reaffirming the right of unions to bargain for alternatives to statutory discipline systems and ensuring that negotiated systems can be exclusive, if authorized by state law.
Potentially impacts accountability and management flexibility. By making discipline a mandatory bargaining subject, management’s ability to unilaterally set or change disciplinary rules is reduced, which could affect how quickly departments can implement reforms or address misconduct, while also providing stronger job protections for public safety employees.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Protect Union Discipline Bargaining
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to civil service and pensions
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to governmental employees
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 62–0
- Ordered to third reading cal.1347
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Referred to civil service and pensions
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Protect Police, Firefighter Bargaining
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Employees · Sponsor Peter Abbate
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5803
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 15, 2019
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- 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 discipline affecting public employees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Legislative findings and declarations. The legislature hereby finds, declares and reaffirms that the 1967 Public Employees' Fair Employment Act establishes that the public policy of the state, and the purpose of the act, is to promote harmonious and cooperative relationships between government and its employees and to protect the public by assuring, at all times, the orderly and uninterrupted operation and functions of government. Included among the policies adopted was the requirement that the state, local governments, and other political subdivisions negotiate and enter into agreements with employee organizations about terms and conditions of employment. Over the many years subsequent to the enactment of such act, the negotiability of discipline, including disciplinary procedures, has been fully endorsed by the public employment relations board and disciplinary procedures have been incorporated into collective bargaining agreements throughout the state. The legislature now declares that this practice of negotiating fair disciplinary protections and procedures for public employees must continue.
A recent court of appeals' decision involving police officers in the city of Schenectady has erroneously declared that the "public policy" of the state is to prohibit absolutely the negotiation of disciplinary procedures in certain places where there exist legislative enactments on the subject of discipline. The legislature declares a necessity for the enactment of this act to ensure that discipline, including disciplinary procedures, will continue as a mandatory subject of collective negotiation, and that collective bargaining agreements addressing that subject
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07900-01-9
S. 5803 2
remain valid and enforceable and to enhance the prohibition against strikes and the protection against the destruction of vital public services delivered by public employees throughout the state.
§ 2. Subdivision 4 of section 201 of the civil service law, as amended by chapter 606 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
4. The term "terms and conditions of employment" means:
(a) salaries, wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment provided, however, that such term shall not include any benefits provided by or to be provided by a public retirement system, or payments to a fund or insurer to provide an income for retirees, or payment to retirees or their beneficiaries. No such retirement benefits shall be negotiated pursuant to this article, and any benefits so negotiated shall be void.
(b) In addition, the terms and conditions of employment for firefighters and police officers shall include discipline, disciplinary procedures including alternatives to any statutory disciplinary system, provided, however, that any right of firefighters and police officers under the terms of any state law to elect coverage under either a statutory disciplinary system or a disciplinary system established by collective negotiations shall not be impaired, unless any such state law authorizes exclusivity of a negotiated disciplinary system and provided further that no provision contained in the town law, general city law, second class cities law, general municipal law, municipal home rule law, county law, or other state, local, special law or charter provision, or any special police act or other special act created by local law or charter or otherwise created, or this chapter shall prevent or impair the right to collective bargaining for or to modify disciplinary procedures.
§ 3. Section 204-a of the civil service law is amended by adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
4. The terms of any current or expired agreement or interest arbitration award between any public employer and any public employee organization representing firefighters or police officers relating to the discipline of any firefighters or police officers shall be deemed valid and enforceable from the effective date of this subdivision.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to the negotiability of discipline affecting public employees
Purpose or general idea of bill
To preserve the ability of competitive class public employees to negoti- ate disciplinary procedures that affect them in their employment.
Summary of provisions
This bill amends the Civil Service Law to modify the language 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 officials and to make clear that police officers and firefighters in this state are entitled to collectively bargain the disciplinary procedures that affect them in their employment. The bill would also restore the provisions of any collective bargaining agree- ments or interest arbitration awards between public employers and public employee organizations representing police officers or firefighters relative to discipline that were invalidated by judicial or administra- tive decisions.
Justification
The fundamental purpose of the Taylor law adopted in 1967 was to make all terms and conditions of employment in the public sector subject to collective bargaining. Early Taylor Law decisions established that disciplinary procedures subject to collective bargaining, and many collective bargaining agreements containing disciplinary provisions and procedures were adopted across the State, including those negotiated by police and fire labor unions. Over time, a series of judicial decisions, including most notably several cases decided by the Court of Appeals, found a countervailing policy in favor of strong local control of disci- pline to override the public policy expressed in the Taylor Law favoring the collective bargaining of all terms and conditions of employment. However, the Taylor Law did not repeal or modify any local law or char- ter provisions vesting control of discipline in local authorities. The Court of Appeals in its decisions also noted that the several statutes also contained provisions favoring the local control of police and fire discipline that would override the Taylor Law presumption of negotiabil- ity.
Thus, at the present time, all police officers and firefighters in cities, towns and villages across the state have had their contractual disciplinary procedures taken away from them without compensation. Their disciplinary procedure is controlled by local law. These police officers and firefighters cannot even avail themselves of the rudimentary protections provided in sections 75 and 76 of the Civil Service Law, which were adopted in 1958, nine years prior to the Taylor Law. Every police officer and firefighter employed in any town or village in the State of New York that has not already been divested of his or her contractual disciplinary procedure is subject to immediate divestment by the simple expedient of the passage by the town or village that employs him or her of a local law declaring local control over police and fire discipline.
This bill would legislatively overrule the judicial decisions on this issue declaring it to be the public policy of the State of New York that for police officers and firefighters, disciplinary procedures are terms and conditions of employment subject to mandatory negotiation 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
S.8270B of 2018 - Passed Senate, died in Assembly
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.