TO: Department and Agency Personnel/Affirmative Action Officers

FROM: James W. Sever, Director of Staffing Services

SUBJECT: Abolitions of Positions

Employees who are laid off pursuant to §80 or §80-a may ONLY be impacted as a result of the abolition of positions.

The Division of Budget's form BD-98 documents the specific items which are abolished. When the issuance and/or processing of the BD-98 has been delayed, and funds become available prior to issuance, such abolished items MAY NOT BE REFILLED. Instead, new positions MUST be classified.

A long standing (May 21, 1976) Attorney General's opinion rendered in a letter to Howard Miller, then Deputy Director of the Division of the Budget sets forth this requirement. The letter states in part:

"In view of the fact that the Civil Service Law makes express provisions for those cases in which tenured employees may be suspended (e.g. §§ 72, 75[3]) and makes no provision for suspension for economy reasons except in the context of abolition (i.e., §80) I must conclude that abolition of positions is a necessary prerequisite. I find nothing to support a contrary view.

Nor do I find any basis for drawing different conclusions based on whether suspensions are the result of legislative or executive action."

(Personnel Officers - Please provide a copy of this memorandum to your agency finance officer.)

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