Taylor Law

The Public Employees Fair Employment Act (more commonly known as the Taylor Law) refers to Article 14 of the New York State Civil Service Law, which defines the rights and limitations of unions for public employees in New York.

The Public Employees Fair Employment Act (the Taylor Law) is a New York State statute, named after labor researcher George W. Taylor. It authorizes a governor-appointed State Public Employment Relations Board to resolve contract disputes for public employees while curtailing their right to strike.

The law provides for mediation and binding arbitration to give voice to unions, but work stoppages are made punishable with fines and jail time. The United Federation of Teachers and the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association challenged the Taylor Law at its 1967 inception. Following a 2005 strike, Transit Workers’ president Roger Toussaint was incarcerated for three days as per a Taylor Law ruling.

The Taylor Law grants public employees the right to organize and elect their union representatives. It defines the boundaries for public employers in negotiating and entering into agreements with public unions. The law also defines the terms for the foundation of the Public Employment Relations Board, a state agency that administers the law in matters related to public strike negotiation. The board consists of three members appointed by the governor. Each member must be approved by the senate, and only two may be of the same political party.

One of the most controversial parts of the Taylor Law is Section 210, which prohibits New York state public employees from striking. For certain unions, primarily law enforcement (such as police officers), it provides for compelling binding PERB arbitration in the event of an impasse in negotiations. For others, except for law enforcement unions, it provides for non-binding "fact-finding," in which a panel of arbitrators make a recommendation to the parties on what is considered a fair settlement of the dispute.

The penalties for striking is an additional day of pay for each day of a strike, totaling two days' loss for each strike day, removal of the "Dues Check-off", and imprisonment of the Union's President.

The law does not apply to Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Staten Island Railway employees, who are subjected to the jurisdiction of the Federal Railway Labor Act of 1926.

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