The Taylor Law in New York is the state statute that gives public employees the right to join a union and bargain collectively over wages, hours, and working conditions, while prohibiting them from going on strike. Formally the Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act, it took effect in September 1967 and created the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to run the system.1Public Employment Relations Board. Timeline of Notable Events If you work for New York State or any of its local governments or public authorities, this is the law that defines your workplace rights.
Who the Law Covers
The statute applies to employees of the state, counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts, and public authorities. The common thread is taxpayer funding and a government function. If your employer fits that description, you are a “public employee” under the law.2Office of Employee Relations. New York State Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act – The Taylor Law
Two groups are excluded. Managerial employees are those who shape policy, help prepare the employer’s side of bargaining, or play a major role administering labor agreements. Confidential employees are the ones who directly assist those managers with sensitive labor-relations information. Neither group can sit in a bargaining unit or hold office in a union representing employees at their agency.3New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 209-a – Improper Employer Practices, Improper Employee Organization Practices, Application The designation turns on what you actually do, not your title, and disputes over who truly qualifies land in front of PERB regularly.
The Right to Organize and the Right Not To
Section 202 of the Civil Service Law states the core guarantee: public employees have the right to form, join, and participate in any employee organization of their choosing. They also have the right to refuse to join one.4New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 202 – Right of Organization A public employer cannot punish or threaten you for either choice.
Once a union is recognized or certified for a bargaining unit, it becomes the exclusive representative of every employee in that unit. The employer must negotiate with that union, and only that union, over wages, hours, and working conditions. In exchange, the union owes a duty of fair representation to everyone in the unit, members and nonmembers alike. A union cannot refuse to process your grievance because you criticized its leadership or chose to stay out.
What Gets Negotiated
Section 204 requires both the public employer and the certified union to bargain in good faith over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.5New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 204 – Recognition and Certification of Employee Organizations Good faith means meeting at reasonable times, sharing relevant information, and genuinely trying to reach agreement. It does not require either side to agree to any particular proposal or make a concession.
Standard negotiable subjects include pay, schedules, overtime, leave, health insurance contributions, and workplace safety rules. Management keeps control over the agency’s core mission, hiring, direction of staff, and similar operational decisions. Retirement benefits are set largely by state law rather than at the local table. When something falls in between, PERB or a court often has to draw the line.
The No-Strike Rule
Section 210 is the law’s most recognizable feature. No public employee or employee organization may engage in a strike, and no one may encourage or condone one.6New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 210 – Prohibition of Strikes The ban covers any concerted work stoppage or slowdown, whatever the underlying dispute. Public officials are also prohibited from authorizing a strike, so a supervisor who looks the other way is violating the law too.
Enforcement is streamlined by a statutory presumption: any employee absent without permission, or failing to perform normal duties on a day a strike occurs, is presumed to have struck.6New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 210 – Prohibition of Strikes You can challenge the presumption, but the burden is on you.
What a Striking Employee Loses
For each day or partial day you participate in a strike, the employer deducts an amount equal to twice your daily rate of pay from your compensation. Add the forfeited day’s pay itself and the practical loss is three days’ pay for every one day on strike.6New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 210 – Prohibition of Strikes The statute uses mandatory language: the chief fiscal officer “shall deduct,” so the employer cannot waive the penalty in a settlement. Individual employees can also face separate discipline, up to termination.
What a Striking Union Loses
When PERB finds a union violated the no-strike rule, it orders forfeiture of the union’s dues check-off, meaning the employer stops deducting union dues from paychecks automatically. PERB sets the length of the forfeiture, which can be fixed or indefinite, and restoration requires the union to prove it no longer claims any right to strike.6New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 210 – Prohibition of Strikes Collecting dues by hand is slow and expensive, and revenue drops. Courts can also fine the organization for each day a strike continues, and unpaid court fines can be collected through resumed deductions sent to the court rather than the union. Public employers can additionally seek a court injunction, after which continued stoppage exposes the union and participants to contempt sanctions on top of the Taylor Law penalties.
What Happens When a Contract Expires: The Triborough Amendment
One of the most consequential provisions sits inside the improper-practices section. Section 209-a(1)(e) makes it illegal for a public employer to change any term of an expired collective bargaining agreement while a successor is still being negotiated.3New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 209-a – Improper Employer Practices, Improper Employee Organization Practices, Application Known as the Triborough Amendment, this means your salary steps, health benefits, seniority rules, and other contract terms stay frozen in place after the contract runs out, until a new deal is reached.
There is one major exception. If the union engages in a strike or other conduct that violates the no-strike rule during negotiations, the employer is released from the obligation. In practice, Triborough gives unions real leverage because an employer cannot simply let the agreement lapse and cut wages or benefits.
When Bargaining Stalls
The law provides a structured sequence of escalating steps when the parties cannot reach a deal. An impasse can be declared if the parties have not agreed at least 120 days before the end of the employer’s fiscal year.
The first step is mediation. PERB appoints a neutral mediator who tries to find common ground, with no power to force a deal.7Public Employment Relations Board. Conciliation (Public Sector) If mediation fails, PERB appoints a fact-finding panel of up to three members. The panel reviews each side’s financial data and arguments, then issues public recommendations. Those recommendations are not binding, but their public nature creates pressure. If the dispute is still unresolved at least 80 days before the fiscal year ends, the report goes to the chief executive and the legislative body, which can impose terms by legislative action.
Police officers and firefighters follow a different track. After mediation fails, either side can petition PERB to send the dispute to a public arbitration panel, and that panel’s decision is final and binding. The legislature created this special process because a deadlock in police or fire protection carries immediate public safety consequences.
Improper Practices and How PERB Enforces the Law
PERB is the independent state agency that administers the Taylor Law. It determines appropriate bargaining units and oversees union elections, resolves disputes through mediation and conciliation, and adjudicates improper-practice charges filed by either side.8Public Employment Relations Board. About the Public Employment Relations Board
Section 209-a lists the conduct that is off-limits. An employer commits an improper practice by retaliating against workers for union activity, dominating or interfering with a union’s internal affairs, discriminating to encourage or discourage union membership, refusing to bargain in good faith, making unilateral changes to working conditions without bargaining, or altering the terms of an expired contract during negotiations.3New York State Senate. New York Code CVS Article 14 – 209-a – Improper Employer Practices, Improper Employee Organization Practices, Application A union commits an improper practice by interfering with employees’ right to join or stay out, by refusing to bargain in good faith, or by breaching its duty of fair representation, such as refusing to process a grievance because the worker is not a member.
When PERB finds a violation, it can order the offending party to stop the conduct and take corrective action, including reinstating employees with back pay.2Office of Employee Relations. New York State Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act – The Taylor Law Filing an improper-practice charge with PERB is often the most practical remedy when something goes wrong at the bargaining table or on the job.
Union Membership and Dues After Janus
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that public-sector unions can no longer collect fees from employees who choose not to join. Deducting agency fees from a nonmember’s paycheck without affirmative consent violates the First Amendment.9Justia US Supreme Court Center. Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 Before Janus, New York unions could charge nonmembers a fee for the cost of bargaining on their behalf. That practice is now unconstitutional.
The state legislature amended the Taylor Law the same year to shore up the practical infrastructure unions rely on. Employers must begin deducting dues within 30 days of receiving a signed authorization card and must accept electronic sign-ups. Deductions continue until the employee revokes membership in writing, and if a member takes leave and later returns to the same employer and bargaining unit, deductions resume automatically. Employers must also give the union the name, address, job title, and work location of each new hire within 30 days, and allow a union representative to meet with that new employee during work hours at no cost to the employee’s leave balance.
The amendments narrowed what unions owe nonmembers. Unions still represent everyone in the unit for purposes of negotiating and enforcing the collective bargaining agreement. They are no longer required to represent nonmembers during employer investigations of misconduct, in disciplinary grievances, or in arbitration where the nonmember is free to hire a lawyer.9Justia US Supreme Court Center. Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 If you have opted out, you keep your contract protections but lose individualized union representation when a personal problem arises.