§ 50-k. Civil actions against employees of the city of New York. 1.
As used in this section:

a. "Agency" shall mean a city, county, borough, or other office,
position, administration, council, department, division, bureau, board,
community board, commission, institution or agency of government, the
expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury,
but shall not include, unless otherwise provided by law, any public
authority, public benefit corporation or board of education.

b. "City" shall mean the city of New York.

c. "Comptroller" shall mean the comptroller of the city.

d. "Corporation Council" shall mean the corporation council of the
city.

e. "Employee" shall mean any person holding a position by election,
appointment or employment in the service of any agency, whether or not
compensated, or a volunteer expressly authorized to participate in a
city sponsored volunteer program, but shall not include an independent
contractor. The term employee shall include a former employee, his
estate or judicially appointed personal representative.

2. At the request of the employee and upon compliance by the employee
with the provisions of subdivision four of this section, the city shall
provide for the defense of an employee of any agency in any civil action
or proceeding in any state or federal court including actions under
sections nineteen hundred eighty-one through nineteen hundred
eighty-eight of title forty-two of the United States code arising out of
any alleged act or omission which the corporation counsel finds occurred
while the employee was acting within the scope of his public employment
and in the discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule
or regulation of his agency at the time the alleged act or omission
occurred. This duty to provide for a defense shall not arise where such
civil action or proceeding is brought by or on behalf of the city or
state or an agency of either.

3. The city shall indemnify and save harmless its employees in the
amount of any judgment obtained against such employees in any state or
federal court, or in the amount of any settlement of a claim approved by
the corporation counsel and the comptroller, provided that the act or
omission from which such judgment or settlement arose occurred while the
employee was acting within the scope of his public employment and in the
discharge of his duties and was not in violation of any rule or
regulation of his agency at the time the alleged damages were sustained;
the duty to indemnify and save harmless prescribed by this subdivision
shall not arise where the injury or damage resulted from intentional
wrongdoing or recklessness on the part of the employee.

4. The duty to defend or indemnify and save harmless prescribed by
this section shall be conditioned upon (a) delivery to the corporation
counsel at the office of the law department of the city by the employee
of the original or a copy of any summons, complaint, process, notice,
demand or pleading within ten days after he is served with such
document, and (b) the full cooperation of the employee in the defense of
such action or proceeding and in defense of any action or proceeding
against the city based upon the same act or omission, and in the
prosecution of any appeal. Such delivery shall be deemed a request by
the employee that the city provide for his defense pursuant to this
section. In the event that the corporation counsel shall assume an
employee's defense and thereafter the employee fails to or refuses to
cooperate in the formation or presentation of his defense, the court
shall permit the corporation counsel to withdraw his representation ten
days after giving written notice to the employee of his intention to
discontinue such representation.

5. In the event that the act or omission upon which the court
proceeding against the employee is based was or is also the basis of a
disciplinary proceeding by the employee's agency against the employee,
representation by the corporation counsel and indemnification by the
city may be withheld (a) until such disciplinary proceeding has been
resolved and (b) unless the resolution of the disciplinary proceeding
exonerated the employee as to such act or omission.

6. Every action or proceeding instituted hereunder, including an
action brought to enforce a provision of sections nineteen hundred
eighty-one through nineteen hundred eighty-eight of title forty-two of
the United States code, shall be commenced pursuant to the provisions of
section fifty-i of this chapter and within one year and ninety days. No
action or proceeding instituted hereunder, other than one instituted
pursuant to sections nineteen hundred eighty-one through nineteen
hundred eighty-eight of title forty-two of the United States code shall
be prosecuted or maintained against the city or any agency or an
employee unless notice of claim shall have been made and served upon the
city in compliance with section fifty-e of this chapter and within
ninety days after the claim arises.

7. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to impair,
alter, limit or modify the rights and obligations of any insurer under
any policy of insurance.

8. The provisions of this section shall apply to all actions and
proceedings pending upon the effective date thereof or thereafter
instituted, except that the provisions of subdivision six shall apply
only to actions and proceedings instituted on or after the effective
date of this section.

9. The provisions of this section shall not be construed in any way to
impair, alter, limit, modify, or abrogate or restrict any immunity
available to or conferred upon any unit, entity, officer or employee of
the city or any agency or any other level of government, or any right to
defense and/or indemnification provided for any governmental officer or
employee by, in accordance with, or by reason of, any other provision of
state, federal or local law or common law.