New York Court of Appeals, 1985

Town of Mamaroneck PBA, Inc. v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board

New York Court of Appeals · Decided October 22, 1985

66 N.Y.2d 722; 496 N.Y.S.2d 995; 487 N.E.2d 905; 1985 N.Y. LEXIS 17280

Cases that cite this one

32 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

New York State Electric & Gas Corp. v. Public Service Commission (New York Supreme Court 2002)
Watertown v. STATE PERB (N.Y. 2000)
City of Watertown v. State of New York Public Employment Relations Board (N.Y. 2000)
Board of Education of the City School District v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
County of Nassau v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
BARHITE, DALE v. TOWN OF DEWITT (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Barhite v. Town of DeWitt (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Barhite v. Town of DeWitt (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2016)
Civil Service Employees Ass'n, Local 1000 v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2006)
Civil Service Employees Ass'n v. State of New York Public Employment Relations Board (New York Supreme Court 2006)
Town of Orangetown v. Orangetown Policemen's Benevolent Ass'n (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2005)
Professional Staff Congress-City University v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2005)
Suffolk County Legislature v. Cuevas (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2003)
Local 589, International Ass'n of Firefighters v. Cuevas (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Uniform Firefighters of Cohoes v. Cuevas (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2000)
Lippman v. Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1999)
Hill v. City of New York (New York Supreme Court 1997)
Harvey v. Hynes (New York Supreme Court 1997)
MTR. OF AT/COMM, INC. v. Tufo (N.Y. 1995)
Frontier Insurance v. State (N.Y. Ct. Cl. 1993)
Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers v. Nassau County Public Employment Relations Board (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1991)
City of Newburgh v. Potter (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1990)
Chiropractic Federated Societies v. New York State Board of Regents (New York Supreme Court 1990)
City School District of Elmira v. New York State Public Employment Relations Board (N.Y. 1989)
Rockland County Patrolmen's Benevolent Ass'n v. Town of Clarkstown (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be reversed, with costs, the petition granted and the determination of the Public Employment Relations Board annulled.

Although as the agency charged with implementing the policies of the Taylor Law (Civil Service Law § 200 if), the Public Employment Relations Board is presumed to have developed an expertise which requires us to accept its construction of that law if not unreasonable (Matter of Incorporated Vil. of Lynbrook v State Public Employment Relations Bd., 48 NY2d 398, 404), with respect to the interpretation of other laws where "the question is one of pure statutory reading and analysis, dependent only on accurate apprehension of legislative intent,” its interpretations need not be accorded such deference (Kurcsics v Merchants Mut. Ins. Co., 49 NY2d 451, 459).

Here we must interpret Town Law § 153, and essentially the same language contained in the Laws of 1936 (ch 104, § 5) which governs Westchester County Police Departments. Town Law § 153 provides that upon transfer from one town police department to another town or village police department in the same county, the police force member "transferred shall receive credit with the department to which he is transferred for time served on the police force or in the department of any village or town within the same county, as though the full time had been served with the department to which he has been transferred, for purposes of seniority, promotion, pensions and general administration.”

There can be no question that transfer credit includes longevity increments (Syracuse Teachers Assn. v Board of Educ., 35 NY2d 743, 744; see, Matter of Union Free School *725Dist. No. 2 v Nyquist, 38 NY2d 137, 142) and that, therefore, in the face of a statute providing that any year of transfer credit shall be counted as a year of service, longevity credit is not subject to arbitration or collective bargaining under the Taylor Law (Syracuse Teachers Assn. v Board of Educ., supra, at p 744). The fact that neither the Town Law nor the Westchester County Police Act includes the words "longevity pay” does not require a contrary conclusion, for both refer to seniority, promotion, and pension rights all of which are matters involving substantial pecuniary benefits related to length of service. Moreover, failing to give transfer credit for the purpose of computing longevity pay would serve to discourage transfers and to undermine the purpose of the sections to place the transferee squarely in the shoes of the officer who has served all such time in the town to which the transfer is made (see, 31 Opns St Comp, 1975, at 11-12).

Chief Judge Wachtler and Judges Jasen, Meyer, Simons, Kaye and Alexander concur in memorandum; Judge Titone taking no part.

On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.4 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.4), order reversed, etc.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.