{"data":{"id":"us-ny/n.y.-civil-service-law-216","jurisdiction":"us-ny","citation":"N.Y. Civil Service Law § 216","heading":"Falsely impersonating an employee organization or employee organization representative","body":"§ 216. Falsely impersonating an employee organization or employee\norganization representative. 1. Definitions. As used in this section,\nthe following terms shall have the following meanings:\n  (a) \"Falsely impersonate an employee organization or employee\norganization representative\" shall mean to use, with the specific intent\nto deceive the recipient and thereby cause harm to such recipient or\nemployee organization, fraud, misrepresentation, material omission, or\nother deception in making and disseminating a verbal, written, or\nelectronic communication that purports to be authorized or otherwise\napproved by such employee organization or employee organization\nrepresentative but that has not been authorized or approved by such\nemployee organization or employee organization representative.\n  (b) \"Employee organization representative\" shall mean any person\nauthorized by an employee organization, pursuant to its constitution,\nbylaws or other internal rules or procedures, to act on behalf of such\nemployee organization.\n  2. No person shall falsely impersonate an employee organization or an\nemployee organization representative.\n  3. (a) Whenever the attorney general shall believe, from evidence\nsatisfactory to the attorney general, that any person, including but not\nlimited to an individual, organization, firm, corporation, company,\npartnership or association, or agent or employee thereof, has engaged or\nis about to engage in the false impersonation of an employee\norganization or an employee organization representative, the attorney\ngeneral may bring an action or proceeding in the name and on behalf of\nthe people of the state of New York to enjoin such unlawful acts or\npractices. In such action or proceeding, preliminary relief may be\ngranted under article sixty-three of the civil practice law and rules.\nIn addition to and not in lieu of any other damages that may be claimed,\nany person found to be in violation of this section through such action\nor proceeding shall be fined one thousand dollars per incident;\nprovided, however, that a court shall have discretion to reduce the\ntotal fine if the court finds that the amount of such fine is\ndisproportionate to the defendant's conduct.\n  (b) The attorney general may bring such an action against any person\ndisseminating verbal, written, or electronic communications in this\nstate, whether or not the person is within the state.\n  (c) In connection with any proposed action or proceeding under this\nsection, the attorney general is authorized to take proof and make a\ndetermination of the relevant facts, and to issue subpoenas in\naccordance with the civil practice law and rules.\n  4. To protect public employees from fraud or misrepresentation,\nincluding the false impersonation of an employee organization\nrepresentative, an employee organization shall have, as a matter of\ninternal governance, the sole authority to identify and designate its\nemployee organization representatives.","path":["Civil Service Law","Article 14. Public Employees' Fair Employment Act"],"source_url":"https://legislation.nysenate.gov/api/3/laws/CVS/216","current_through":"2026-09-11","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T19:32:44Z","sha256":"bc203b842b1530cadaee2ff4d95767fa8da94551bcbe3f366014f2b12f19e359","source_id":"us-ny","stale":false,"prev":"us-ny/n.y.-civil-service-law-215","next":"us-ny/n.y.-debtor-creditor-law-1"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}