Requires that all procedures and other matters related to the receipt or discontinuation of benefits available under section two hundred seven-c of the general municipal law shall be subject, upon request of the affected employee, to a de novo evidentiary hearing.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5026--B
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 18, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to procedures and
other matters related to the receipt or discontinuation of certain
benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 207-c of the general municipal law is amended by
2 adding a new subdivision 7 to read as follows:
3 7. Any determination by a municipality regarding an employee's initial
4 eligibility for, or discontinuance of, benefits under this section shall
5 be subject, upon request of the affected employee, to a de novo eviden-
6 tiary hearing. Such hearing shall afford all parties the opportunity to
7 present testimonial, documentary, and other evidence that is material
8 and relevant to the determination. The hearing officer or arbitrator
9 shall make an independent determination based on the evidence presented,
10 and shall not be limited to reviewing the municipality's determination
11 under an arbitrary and capricious standard. Under no circumstances shall
12 a proceeding pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice law
13 and rules be considered a reasonable substitute for the evidentiary
14 hearing required by this subdivision. Nothing in this subdivision shall
15 preclude the parties from negotiating additional or alternative proce-
16 dures through collective bargaining, provided such procedures afford the
17 affected employee a full and fair opportunity to be heard. Notwith-
18 standing any local law, ordinance, resolution, or charter provision to
19 the contrary, this evidentiary hearing process provided for by this
20 subdivision shall be deemed a mandatorily negotiable term and condition
21 of employment under article fourteen of the civil service law.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08272-04-5
