Relates to improper employer practices relating to the continuation of pay, vacation and health care benefits; relates to eligible employees for retirement plans; relates to compensation items in disputed agreements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9998
IN ASSEMBLY
April 29, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FITZPATRICK, TAGUE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
A. MANKTELOW -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
mental Employees
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to improper employer
practices relating to the continuation of pay, vacation and health
care benefits; to amend the education law, in relation to eligible
employees for retirement plans; and to amend the civil service law, in
relation to disputed agreements
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 209-a of the
2 civil service law, as amended by chapter 244 of the laws of 2007, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (e) to refuse to continue [all the] terms of an expired agreement that
5 relate to leaves of absence, active employees health insurance, holi-
6 days, salaries excluding step increases, and all other mandatory
7 subjects of a bargaining agreement as defined by the public employment
8 relations board case law prior to its conversion doctrine until a new
9 agreement is negotiated, unless the employee organization which is a
10 party to such agreement has, during such negotiations or prior to such
11 resolution of such negotiations, engaged in conduct violative of subdi-
12 vision one of section two hundred ten of this article;
13 § 2. Subdivision 3-a of section 390 of the education law, as added by
14 chapter 18 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
15 3-a. (a) Beginning July first, two thousand thirteen, the term "eligi-
16 ble employees" shall also mean any person excluded from or not encom-
17 passed within a negotiating unit within the meaning of article fourteen
18 of the civil service law who would otherwise be entitled to receive a
19 benefit under the retirement and social security law or the education
20 law initially hired on or after July first, two thousand thirteen with
21 estimated annual wages of seventy-five thousand per annum or greater.
22 Such estimate of annual wages to determine eligibility for the purposes
23 of this subdivision shall be provided by the employer. For the purposes
24 of this subdivision, a newly hired state employee whose immediate
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08109-02-2
A. 9998 2
1 preceding employment was with another department, division, or agency of
2 the state shall not be deemed to be an eligible employee.
3 (b) Beginning January first, two thousand twenty-two, the term "eligi-
4 ble employees" shall also mean any person who would otherwise be enti-
5 tled to receive a benefit under the retirement and social security law
6 or the education law initially hired on or after January first, two
7 thousand twenty-two who would otherwise be eligible for membership in
8 the New York state and local employees' retirement system or the New
9 York state teachers' retirement system. For the purpose of this para-
10 graph, a newly hired state employee whose prior employment, immediately
11 preceding such state employment, was with another department, division,
12 or agency of the state shall not be deemed to be an eligible employee.
13 § 3. Section 209 of the civil service law is amended by adding a new
14 subdivision 7 to read as follows:
15 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, for
16 any dispute that is subject to the provisions of this section, the
17 determination of the public arbitration panel on a disputed agreement
18 shall not contain an increase in all compensation items subject to nego-
19 tiation which is greater than two percent more than all compensation
20 items subject to negotiation received by the employee organization in
21 the agreement between the public employer and the employee organization
22 immediately preceding the agreement being arbitrated.
23 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would amend Section 390 of the Education Law to broaden the
definition of the term "eligible employees" as it applies to eligibility
to join the State University of New York Optional Retirement Program
(ORP), otherwise known as the Voluntary Defined Contribution Program
(VDC). The definition would be expanded to include any person initially
hired on or after January 1, 2022 who would otherwise be eligible for
membership in the New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) or
the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Currently only
new employees with an annual salary of $75,000 or more and who are not
represented by a collective bargaining unit must choose between joining
the public retirement system (NYSTRS, NYSLRS) or the ORP/VDC. A newly
hired state employee whose prior employment, immediately preceding such
state employment, was with another department, division, or agency of
the state shall not be deemed to be an eligible employee.
It is not possible to determine the total annual cost to the employers
of members of the New York State Teachers' Retirement System since the
number of newly hired employees who would choose to participate in the
ORP/VDC each year cannot be estimated. This bill represents a fundamen-
tal change in the structure of public retirement benefits and would
substantially impact their funding. The number of new entrants to the
System could potentially decline each year if some newly hired employees
opt to participate in the ORP/VDC. The System's outstanding liability
under the defined benefit plan is funded over the average future remain-
ing working lifetime of its members. Thus, if the System experiences a
large decline in the number of new entrants each year, this funding
period would decrease, resulting in potentially increasing costs to
employers. It is strongly recommended that a full actuarial analysis and
report be completed to gauge all the potential costs and implications
fully and more quantitatively before a structural change of this magni-
tude is undertaken.
Member data is from the System's most recent actuarial valuation
files, consisting of data provided by the employers to the Retirement
A. 9998 3
System. Data distributions and statistics can be found in the System's
Annual Report. System assets are as reported in the System's financial
statements and can also be found in the System's Annual Report. Actuar-
ial assumptions and methods are provided in the System's Actuarial Valu-
ation Report and the 2021 Actuarial Assumptions Report.
The source of this estimate is Fiscal Note 2022-21 dated April 12,
2022 prepared by the Office of the Actuary of the New York State Teach-
ers' Retirement System and is intended for use only during the 2022
Legislative Session. I, Richard A. Young, am the Chief Actuary for the
New York State Teachers' Retirement System. I am a member of the Ameri-
can Academy of Actuaries and I meet the Qualification Standards of the
American Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained
herein.
