§ 215. Dues or agency shop fee deductions. 1. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any public employer, any employee organization, the comptroller and the board, or any of their employees or agents, shall not be liable for, and shall have a complete defense to, any claims or actions under the laws of this state for requiring, deducting, receiving, or retaining dues or agency shop fee deductions from public employees, and current or former public employees shall not have standing to pursue these claims or actions, if the dues or fees were permitted or mandated at the time under the laws of this state then in force and paid, through payroll deduction or otherwise, prior to June twenty-seventh, two thousand eighteen.

Terms Used In N.Y. Civil Service Law 215

  • board: means the public employment relations board created by section two hundred five of this article. See N.Y. Civil Service Law 201
  • employee organization: means an organization of any kind having as its primary purpose the improvement of terms and conditions of employment of public employees, except that such term shall not include an organization (a) membership in which is prohibited by section one hundred five of this chapter, (b) which discriminates with regard to the terms or conditions of membership because of race, color, creed or national origin, or (c) which, in the case of public employees who hold positions by appointment or employment in the service of the board and who are excluded from the application of this article by rules and regulations of the board, admits to membership or is affiliated directly or indirectly with an organization which admits to membership persons not in the service of the board, for purposes of any provision of this article other than sections two hundred ten and two hundred eleven of this article. See N.Y. Civil Service Law 201
  • public employer: means (i) the state of New York, (ii) a county, city, town, village or any other political subdivision or civil division of the state, (iii) a school district or any governmental entity operating a public school, college or university, (iv) a public improvement or special district, (v) a public authority, commission, or public benefit corporation, (vi) any other public corporation, agency or instrumentality or unit of government which exercises governmental powers under the laws of the state, or (vii) in the case of a county sheriff's office in those counties where the office of sheriff is an elected position, both the county and the sheriff, shall be designated as a joint public employer for all purposes of this article. See N.Y. Civil Service Law 201

2. This section shall apply to claims and actions pending or filed on or after June twenty-seventh, two thousand eighteen.

3. The enactment of this section shall not be interpreted to create the inference that any relief made unavailable by this section would otherwise be available.