N.Y. Civil Service Law § 100: Certification of payrolls

§ 100. Certification of payrolls. 1. Payroll certification required.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no disbursing or

auditing officer of the state or of any civil division thereof shall

approve or pay or take any part in approving or paying any salary or

compensation for personal service to any person holding an office or

position in the classified service unless the voucher or payroll

therefor bears the certificate of the civil service department or

municipal commission having jurisdiction that the persons named therein

are employed in their respective positions in accordance with law and

rules made pursuant to law. The certificate of municipal commissions

shall also include a statement of membership in an appropriate

retirement system where such membership is mandatory. Such certificate

may be executed for and on behalf of such department or commission, as

the case may be, by an officer or employee thereof duly designated in

writing for that purpose. Such certificate may, for cause, be withheld

from an entire payroll or from any item or items therein. If the

department or municipal commission finds that any person has been

promoted, transferred, assigned, reinstated or otherwise employed in

violation of this chapter or rules made pursuant thereto, it shall so

notify the appropriate disbursing and auditing officers who thereafter

shall not pay or approve the payment of any salary or compensation to

such person; and nothing contained in this section shall be construed to

authorize any officer to approve or pay salary or compensation to any

person contrary to such a notice. If, however, permission is granted by

the department to a state agency or state department to certify directly

to the department of audit and control that the persons named in the

certification are employed in their respective positions in accordance

with law and rules made pursuant to law, the department need not certify

any voucher or payroll but may at any time thereafter examine such

payroll or voucher and revoke any previous certification not made in

accordance with such law and rules. Revocation of any such certification

shall, in any action against the appointing officer under section one

hundred two of this chapter, be presumptive evidence that such

certification was improper in the respects not held to be proper by the

department.

(b) The certificate of the civil service department or appropriate

municipal commission shall not be required in advance of the audit and

payment of salary or compensation to temporary laborers if the

appointing officer certifies that the temporary laborers named in the

payroll or account therefor have been appointed or employed in

accordance with law and rules made pursuant thereto, but in such case

such payroll or account shall be submitted within two calendar months

after certification by the appointing officer for further certification

by the department or appropriate municipal commission that the

appointing officer's certification was in whole or in part proper.

Refusal of the department or municipal commission to certify, within

thirty days of receipt of such payroll or account, that the

certification by the appointing officer was in all respects proper

shall, in any action against such appointing officer under section one

hundred two of this chapter, be presumptive evidence that such

certification was improper in the respects not certified as proper by

the department or municipal commission. The department may include

temporary laborers employed by a state agency or state department within

permission granted pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision for

direct certification to the department of audit and control, subject to

the terms for investigation and revocation of such certification

contained in such paragraph. The term "temporary laborers", as used

herein, means persons in the labor class and skilled laborers in the

non-competitive class who are employed temporarily on work of repairs,

maintenance and construction, and who do not constitute part of the

regular force of a department or institution.

(c) Any person entitled to be certified as provided herein and refused

such certificate, or from whom salary or compensation is otherwise

unlawfully withheld, may maintain a proceeding under article

seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules to compel the issuance

of such certificate or the payment of such salary, or both, as the case

may be.

(d) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent

the award of a money remedy for the violation of a provision of a

collective bargaining agreement prohibiting the assignment of employees

to duties substantially different from those appropriate to the title to

which the employees are certified. This subdivision may be supplemented,

modified or replaced by provisions of collective bargaining agreements

negotiated between the state and an employee organization pursuant to

article fourteen of this chapter.

(e) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent

the payment of a money remedy, which shall be for a period no longer

than forty-five days prior to the filing of a grievance, pursuant to

executive order forty-two, dated October fourteenth, nineteen hundred

seventy, and title nine, part five hundred sixty, official compilation

of codes, rules and regulations of the state of New York in resolution

of the assignment of employees to duties substantially different from

those appropriate to the title to which the employees are certified. The

issuance of such a money remedy shall also contain a cease and desist

order from continuation of the assignment of such substantially

different duties to the employee involved.

(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this

subdivision, in cities with a population of one million or more, the

municipal civil service commission may grant permission to a city agency

or department to certify directly to the disbursing or auditing officer

of such city that the persons named in the certification are employed in

their respective positions in accordance with applicable law and rules.

In such cases, the municipal civil service commission need not certify

any voucher or payroll but may at any time thereafter examine such

payroll or voucher and revoke any previous certification not made in

accordance with such law and rules. Revocation of such certification

shall, in any action against the appointing officer pursuant to section

one hundred two of this title, be presumptive evidence that such

certification was improper in the respects not held to be proper by the

municipal civil service commission.

2. Extended certifications. (a) The state civil service commission or

any municipal commission may, by rule, provide that certification of

payrolls of employees of any agency, authority or civil division under

its jurisdiction may be made annually or semi-annually as of the date or

dates specified in such rules provided, however, that on and after July

first, nineteen hundred sixty-one, each such commission shall be deemed

to have adopted a rule providing for annual certification as of the

first full payroll period of the fiscal year of such agency, authority

or civil division, except for such periods after such date during which

a rule or requirement of such commission shall be operative which

provides for other certifications, or dates therefor, consistent with

the provisions of this section. Any such certification shall remain in

effect until the next certification required by such rules, except as to

officers or employees appointed or reinstated after such certification

was made, or officers or employees whose status or salary or

compensation is changed after the last certification of a payroll

containing their names. In such cases the names of such officers and

employees shall be submitted for certification on the first payroll on

which they appear under such appointment, reinstatement, or other new

status or salary or compensation; provided, however, that in the case of

school districts other than city school districts, pending such

certification by the department or commission as to persons not so

previously certified, audit and payment of salary or compensation may be

made for a period not exceeding two calendar months after the

appointment, reinstatement or other change of status or salary or

compensation of such persons if notice thereof in writing is forwarded

to the civil service department within fifteen calendar days after such

appointment, reinstatement or other change of status or salary or

compensation occurs.

(b) In lieu of the procedure authorized by paragraph (a) of this

subdivision the civil service department, with respect to the officers

and employees of any department or agency of the state or any public

authority, may issue certificates hereunder on an extended basis without

time limitation or, in the case of employments subject to a time

limitation, for such limited period as may be applicable. No further

certification shall be necessary for the payment of compensation to any

such person so long as his status remains unchanged and during the

stated limited period, if any, of his employment. The civil service

department, however, may at any time examine the payroll of such

department, agency or authority for any pay period, and shall examine

such a payroll at least once each year to determine that all persons

employed in such department, agency or authority are employed in

accordance with law and rules.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subdivision or of any rules

adopted hereunder, the civil service department or a municipal

commission may, at any time, require any such agency, authority or civil

division under its jurisdiction to submit payrolls or accounts for

certification in accordance with the provisions of subdivision one of

this section.

3. Certifications for certain positions in state service.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the civil service

department, in any certificate issued pursuant to this section with

respect to the employment of a person in a position classified pursuant

to article eight of this chapter, shall not be required or deemed to

attest that the salary or rate of compensation indicated for such person

is that to which he is eligible or entitled pursuant to law. When an

extended certification has been made with respect to the employment of a

person in such a position, a new certification shall not be required

solely because of a change in the salary or rate of compensation of such

person.

4. Waiver of certification requirement for certain special or

emergency employments. The president of the state civil service

commission may except from the application of this section persons

employed by a state agency or public authority for a period not

exceeding ten days to render special or emergency service not

customarily performed by the regular employees of such agency or public

authority.

5. Limitation upon the certification of payrolls. Solely for the

purposes of this section and in the absence of fraud, an employee having

completed the applicable probationary period and holding a position in

the classified service of a civil service division by appointment or

promotion for at least three years shall be presumed to have been duly

appointed or promoted. After such time, neither the state civil service

commission nor a municipal commission shall withhold certification of

such employee on a payroll or voucher by reason of a violation of this

chapter or rules made pursuant thereto. The provisions of this

subdivision shall not apply in cities with a population of one million

or more.