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.