unions

PEF sues Employee Relations Office over worker classification

The union said the state is violating the law when "unilaterally" designating workers as management

By Molly Burke Dec 9, 2023

The Public Employees Federation filed a lawsuit against the state's Office of Employee Relations over a categorization of employees as "managerial or confidential." The union, whose president Wayne Spence, is shown in March at the Capitol, represents more than 50,000 state workers.

ALBANY — The Public Employees Federation filed a lawsuit this week against the state’s Office of Employee Relations for deeming employees as management without going through the legal classification process, the union said.

The union, which represents more than 50,000 state workers, alleges the state is violating the Public Employees' Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor Law, which requires that a public employer must go through a “detailed process” to classify an employee as managerial or confidential.

The classification requires the employer to file an application with the Public Employee Relations Board. The employee is notified and — often with PEF’s representation — given a chance to respond. The board then decides whether the position should be designated as “management or confidential” or stay within PEF’s bargaining unit, said Rob Merrill, a spokesman for PEF.

PEF claims in the lawsuit that the state Office of Employee Relations' designation of positions as “managerial or confidential was done unilaterally and without any authority.”

The lawsuit names eight employees who PEF claims have been affected by the changed designations since the current collective bargaining agreement was ratified in the summer.

The union is concerned with the process of changing a position’s designation as “employees lose all benefits of union membership” upon being deemed managerial or confidential in these positions. Merrill said the affected employees lose representation, bargaining power, union benefits including discounts, and a sense of solidarity with their coworkers.

Merrill said that the union found out about the state’s designations through a Freedom of Information Law request. PEF says the state has not been notifying the union nor, to their knowledge, the affected employees until the designation has already been made.

The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Albany, asks the court to overturn the eight named employees' designations and to order the state to follow the Taylor law.