Provides that the court shall confirm an award in a public sector arbitration proceeding upon application of a party made within one year after delivery to the party, unless an application to vacate or modify the award upon certain grounds is made.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6866
SPONSOR: Lavine TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to court
confirmation of arbitration awards for public sector arbitrations
PURPOSE:
Relates to court confirmation of arbitration awards for public sector
arbitrations
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: amends section 7510 of the CPLR to read § 7510. Confirmation
of award. The court shall confirm an award upon application of a party
made within one year after its delivery to them, unless the award is
vacated or modified upon a ground specified in section (7511) seventy-
five hundred eleven of this article.
Section 2: CPLR is amended to include a new section 7510-a to read
§ 7510-a. Confirmation of award for public sector arbitrations. (a) The
court shall confirm an award in a public sector arbitration proceeding
upon application of a party made within one year after its delivery to
the party, unless an application to vacate or modify the award upon a
ground specified in section seventy-five hundred eleven of this article
is made within ninety days after the delivery of the award to the party
seeking to modify or vacate. (b)This section shall only apply to awards
from an arbitration between a public employer and an employee of the
public employer.(c) For the purposes'of this section, "public employer"
means (i) the state of New York, (ii)a county, city, town, village or
any other political subdivision or civil division of the state, (iii)a
school district or any governmental entity operating a public school,
college Or university, (iv) a public improvement or special district,
(v) a public authority, commission, or public benefit corporation, (vi)
any other public corporation, agency or instrumentality or unit of
government which exercises governmental powers under the laws of the
state, or (vii) in the case of a county sheriff's office in those coun-
ties where the office of sheriff is an elected pos ition, both the coun-
ty and the sheriff, shall be designated as a joint public employer for
all purposes of this article.
Section 3: effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under the current law, CPLR section 7511 permits a party to an arbi-
tration to move to modify or vacate an arbitration award within ninety
(90) days of receiving the award.
Further, under 7511, if an-award is modified, it is then confirmed. as
modified, by the Court at that time. Similarly, if a motion to vacate or
modify is denied, the award is confirmed as is by the Court at that
time.
CPLR section 7510 permits a party to an arbitration to move to confirm
the arbitration award within one (1) year of receiving the award.
Generally, a party needs to go to Court to confirm an award when the
unsuccessful party fails to comply with the award.
Under the current law, there is a loophole for unsuccessful parties.
That is, when the successful party waits ninety-one (91) or more days
for the unsuccessful party to comply with the award and then is forced
to move to confirm the award in court, the unsuccessful party is permit-
ted to cross move to modify or vacate at that time, even though that
party did not move within the ninety (90) days as set forth in CPLR
7511.
What we see, particularly in the labor and employment arbitrations is
that the unsuccessful party simply refuses to comply with the award.
The successful party is then forced to move to confirm the award and, to
do so, must file in court and pay the filing fees and request for judi-
cial intervention fees. The unsuccessful party then simply cross moves
to modify or vacate without any penalty for waiting beyond the ninety
(90) days and without the need to pay the same court fees.
This is a loophole that needs to be closed. An unsuccessful party
certainly knows whether it intends to comply with an award or whether it
needs to move to vacate or modify an award within ninety (90) days.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None to the state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6866
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to court
confirmation of arbitration awards for public sector arbitrations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 7510 of the civil practice law and rules is amended
2 to read as follows:
3 § 7510. Confirmation of award. The court shall confirm an award upon
4 application of a party made within one year after its delivery to [him]
5 them, unless the award is vacated or modified upon a ground specified in
6 section [7511] seventy-five hundred eleven of this article.
7 § 2. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new
8 section 7510-a to read as follows:
9 § 7510-a. Confirmation of award for public sector arbitrations. (a)
10 The court shall confirm an award in a public sector arbitration proceed-
11 ing upon application of a party made within one year after its delivery
12 to the party, unless an application to vacate or modify the award upon a
13 ground specified in section seventy-five hundred eleven of this article
14 is made within ninety days after the delivery of the award to the party
15 seeking to modify or vacate.
16 (b) This section shall only apply to awards from an arbitration
17 between a public employer and an employee of the public employer.
18 (c) For the purposes of this section, "public employer" means (i) the
19 state of New York, (ii) a county, city, town, village or any other poli-
20 tical subdivision or civil division of the state, (iii) a school
21 district or any governmental entity operating a public school, college
22 or university, (iv) a public improvement or special district, (v) a
23 public authority, commission, or public benefit corporation, (vi) any
24 other public corporation, agency or instrumentality or unit of govern-
25 ment which exercises governmental powers under the laws of the state, or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10647-01-3
A. 6866 2
1 (vii) in the case of a county sheriff's office in those counties where
2 the office of sheriff is an elected position, both the county and the
3 sheriff, shall be designated as a joint public employer for all purposes
4 of this article.
5 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
