2024 New York Laws
CVS - Civil Service
Article 5 - Personnel Changes
Title C - Abolition of Positions; Suspension; Demotion
81 - Preferred Lists; Certification and Reinstatement Therefrom.

§ 81. Preferred  lists; certification and reinstatement therefrom.  1.
Establishment of preferred lists; general provisions. The  head  of  any
department,  office  or institution in which an employee is suspended or
demoted in accordance with the provisions  of  section  eighty  of  this
title  shall,  upon such suspension or demotion, furnish the state civil
service department or appropriate municipal commission, as the case  may
be,   a   statement  showing  his  name,  title  or  position,  date  of
appointment, and the date of and reason for suspension or  demotion.  It
shall be the duty of such civil service department or commission, as the
case  may  be,  forthwith  to  place  the  name  of such employee upon a
preferred list, together with others who  may  have  been  suspended  or
demoted  from  the  same or similar positions in the same jurisdictional
class, and to certify such list, as hereinafter  provided,  for  filling
vacancies  in  the  same  jurisdictional  class;  first,  in the same or
similar position; second, in any position in a lower grade  in  line  of
promotion;  and  third,  in any comparable position. Such preferred list
shall be certified for filling a vacancy in  any  such  position  before
certification  is  made  from  any  other  list,  including  a promotion
eligible list, notwithstanding the fact that none of the persons on such
preferred list was suspended  from  or  demoted  in  the  department  or
suspension and demotion unit in which such vacancy exists. No other name
shall  be certified from any other list for any such position until such
preferred list is exhausted. The  eligibility  for  reinstatement  of  a
person  whose name appears on any such preferred list shall not continue
for a period longer than four years  from  the  date  of  separation  or
demotion. An employee whose name was placed on the preferred list and at
the  time  of such placement was on active duty with the armed forces of
the United States, as pursuant to title ten, fourteen or  thirty-two  of
the   United   States   code,  shall  not  be  eligible  for  employment
reinstatement for a period longer than four  years  after  the  date  of
termination of military duty.
2.  Order  of  certification  of names from preferred lists. Except as
hereinafter provided, the names of persons on a preferred list shall  be
certified  therefrom  for  reinstatement  to a vacancy in an appropriate
position in the order of their original appointments.
  (a) Upon the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in the
service of a civil division, except in a city having a population of one
million or more, the names of persons on the  preferred  list  shall  be
certified  to  fill  such  vacancy  in  the following order: (1) persons
suspended from or demoted in the department or agency within which  such
vacancy  occurs;  and  (2)  persons  suspended  from or demoted in other
departments and agencies in such civil division.
  (b) Upon the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in the
state service, or in the service of a city having a  population  of  one
million  or  more,  the  names of persons on the preferred list shall be
certified to fill such vacancy in the  following  order:
  (1)  persons
suspended  from  or  demoted  in  the  department  in which such vacancy
exists, except that where such vacancy exists in a  separate  suspension
and  demotion  unit,  the  names of persons suspended from or demoted in
such unit, and not  those  suspended  from  or  demoted  in  the  entire
department,  shall be certified first; and (2) all other persons on such
preferred list.
3. Eligibility and order of certification for reinstatement of persons
suspended from or demoted in the service of a county in  a  city  wholly
including  within  its limits two or more counties. Any person suspended
or demoted from a position in the service of a county in a  city  wholly
including within its limits two or more counties, where the compensation
of  such position is paid directly from the treasury of such city, shall

be eligible for certification and reinstatement from the preferred  list
to  the same or similar position, or a similar position in a lower grade
in the same occupational field, in the service of any county within such
city.    Upon  the occurrence of a vacancy in an appropriate position in
the service of any such county, the names of persons  on  the  preferred
list  shall  be  certified  to fill such vacancy in the following order:
(a) persons suspended from or demoted in the particular county office in
which such vacancy occurs; (b) persons  suspended  from  or  demoted  in
other  county  offices  in the same county in which such vacancy occurs;
(c) persons suspended  from  or  demoted  in  county  offices  in  other
counties within such city.
4. Certification of probationers from preferred list.  Notwithstanding
the  provisions of subdivisions two and three of this section, no person
suspended or demoted prior to the completion of  his  probationary  term
shall  be  certified  for  reinstatement  until  the  exhaustion  of the
preferred list of all other eligibles thereon.  Upon reinstatement, such
probationer shall be required to complete his probationary term.
5. Effect of failure or refusal to accept reinstatement. The state and
municipal civil service commissions shall adopt rules providing for  the
relinquishment  of eligibility for reinstatement upon failure or refusal
to accept reinstatement from a preferred list.
6. Salary upon reinstatement. A person  reinstated  from  a  preferred
list  to  his  former  position  or a similar position in the same grade
shall receive at least the same salary such person was receiving at  the
time of suspension or demotion.
7.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions of this chapter, the civil
service department or appropriate municipal  commission  may  disqualify
for  reinstatement  and  remove  from  a  preferred list the name of any
eligible who is physically or mentally disabled for the  performance  of
the  duties  of  the position for which such list is established, or who
has been guilty of such misconduct as would warrant his  dismissal  from
the  public  service,  except  that  a  partially physically handicapped
person, who is suspended pursuant to  section  eighty  of  this  chapter
because  of  lack of work, but who, within six months of the date of his
suspension, is certified for reinstatement to any job  item  having  the
same  physical  requirements  as  the job item from which the person was
suspended shall not be disqualified because  of  his  physical  handicap
unless  a  medical  examination  discloses that because his handicap has
become greater he would not be able to satisfactorily  perform  in  such
job  item.  No person shall be disqualified pursuant to this subdivision
unless he is first given a written statement of the reasons therefor and
an opportunity for a hearing at which such reasons shall be  established
by  appropriate evidence, and at which such person may be represented by
counsel and present evidence. The civil service department or  municipal
commission  may  designate  a  person  to  hold  such hearing and report
thereon.
8. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this  chapter,  any  person
may  voluntarily  remove  his  or  her  name  from  a  preferred list by
application to the civil service  department  or  appropriate  municipal
commission.
9. An  employee  who  is  eligible  to  be  placed on a preferred list
pursuant to this section and  who  elects,  as  a  member  of  a  public
employee  retirement  system,  to  retire upon a suspension or demotion,
shall  be  placed  on  a  preferred  list  and  shall  be  eligible  for
reinstatement from such list.