Amd 715, Lab L; rpld 35 sub (c), amd 41 & 201, Civ Serv L
Relates to the designation and rights of legislative employees; designates employees of the legislature as being in the exempt class of classified service and includes the legislature as a public employer.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A109
SPONSOR: Quart TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law and the civil service law, in relation to
the designation and rights of employees of the legislature; and to
repeal certain provisions of the civil service law relating thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To allow state legislative employees to form a union
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 715 of the labor law.
Section 2 repeals subdivision (c) of section 35 of the civil service
law.
Section 3 amends section 41 of the civil service law.
Section 4 amends section 201 of the civil service law.
Section 5 sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In February 2019, the Legislature held historic public hearings into
legislative employee's experience with sexual harassment. These hearings
were the first held on the subject in twenty-five years, despite the
well-documented and extensively reported problems with sexual harassment
in the Legislature. In large part, the delay is due to the reticence of
the Legislature to examine internal deficiencies that allowed such abuse
to flourish.
Legislative employees are particularly vulnerable to a variety of abuses
due to the nature of their jobs. They can be fired at any time for any
reason, or no reason at all. The nature of their employment is highly
unregulated. In order to report abuse that they experience or observe,
they have to navigate the politics of the legislative body, knowing that
reporting is still a violation of institutional norms. While retaliation
is officially verboten, it happens, putting those who report at risk of
being out of a job while their complaints are investigated. At best,
they will then be reinstated in an office with an elected official who
already tried to fire them.
Beyond these vulnerabilities, legislative employees are prevented from
advocating for their own working conditions. Working hours, salaries,
work locations, equipment and job descriptions are all solely based on
the whims of the member. There is no formal or informal way for staff to
join together to fight for better conditions. No legislative body can
function without dedicated staff. However, while their members fight for
fair working conditions for union members in their districts, their own
staffers are often denied those same rights. It's long past time to
change our laws to allow legislative staffers to organize, form a union
and advocate for themselves.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019 - 2020: A9623
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
109
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. QUART, REYES -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the labor law and the civil service law, in relation to
the designation and rights of employees of the legislature; and to
repeal certain provisions of the civil service law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 715 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 890 of
2 the laws of 1968, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 715. Application of article. The provisions of this article shall
4 not apply to: [(1)] employees of any employer who concedes to and agrees
5 with the board that such employees are subject to and protected by the
6 provisions of the national labor relations act or the federal railway
7 labor act[; or (2) employees of the state or of any political or civil
8 subdivision or other agency thereof].
9 § 2. Subdivision (c) of section 35 of the civil service law is
10 REPEALED.
11 § 3. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 41 of the civil service
12 law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended and a new
13 paragraph (f) is added to read as follows:
14 (e) all other subordinate offices or positions for the filling of
15 which competitive or non-competitive examination may be found to be not
16 practicable. Not more than one appointment shall be made to or under the
17 title of any office or position placed in the exempt class pursuant to
18 the provisions of this paragraph, unless a different number is specif-
19 ically prescribed in the rules[.];
20 (f) all officers and employees of the state legislature, and all offi-
21 cers and employees of any other legislative body whose principal func-
22 tions and duties are directly related to the performance of the legisla-
23 tive functions of such body.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01712-01-1
A. 109 2
1 § 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 6 of section 201 of the civil
2 service law, as amended by chapter 597 of the laws of 2000, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 (a) The term "government" or "public employer" means (i) the state of
5 New York, (ii) a county, city, town, village or any other political
6 subdivision or civil division of the state, (iii) a school district or
7 any governmental entity operating a public school, college or universi-
8 ty, (iv) a public improvement or special district, (v) a public authori-
9 ty, commission, or public benefit corporation, (vi) any other public
10 corporation, agency or instrumentality or unit of government which exer-
11 cises governmental powers under the laws of the state,[or] (vii) in the
12 case of a county sheriff's office in those counties where the office of
13 sheriff is an elected position, both the county and the sheriff, shall
14 be designated as a joint public employer for all purposes of this arti-
15 cle, or (viii) a legislative body.
16 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
