The Mandate: Municipalities are not allowed to participate in the process to consider the merits of a disability retirement application filed by, or on behalf of, a member of the New York State Police and Fire Retirement System. This prohibition denies the opportunity for disability benefit administrators to obtain additional information relevant to the merits of an application. In the past, disability pensions have been improperly granted due to the fact that disability benefit administrators were not presented with all of the facts.

The Mandate: Sections 159-b and 159-c of the Civil Service Law provide that any public employee or public officer has a right to take paid leave, of up to four hours per year, for breast cancer screening or for prostate cancer screening. As a result, those covered by these laws have paid leave over and above whatever paid leave may have been granted to them by their employer. The reality is that any employee with accrued sick leave could potentially use such leave to undergo screenings for these types of cancer. Consequently, these laws are unnecessary. Furthermore, this coverage extends to part-time employees. While this class of employees is generally not provided with paid leave, any part-time employee seeking a cancer screening would be able to schedule such outside of normal working hours.

The Mandate: Under existing law, when an exam for a position is offered, should the position represent a promotion, the only individuals eligible to take the exam are those currently employed in the same department. Should an appointing authority seek to have other individuals take the exam, reasons must be presented in writing to the appropriate civil service agency in order to obtain its consent to expand the pool of test takers.

The Mandate: The provisions of General Municipal Law § 207-a and § 207-c require that in the event a workplace injury to a paid firefighter or police officer prevents the performance of work, a municipal disability payment that is equal to the full amount of regular salary or wages must be continued until the individual reaches the mandatory retirement age established by the retirement plan in which he or she is a member. Many firefighters and police officers are enrolled in special retirement plans which require a retirement at age 62, if disabled. In order to extend their disability payments (which are more generous than their retirement benefit), firefighters and police officers out on § 207-a or § 207-c are - prior to the age of 62 - switching to a different retirement plan with a mandatory retirement age of 70.