900 state layoff notices to go out in December

Gov. David A. Paterson's administration will wait until Dec. 10 to send layoff notices to about 900 state employees, hoping to avoid lawsuits from unions, officials said Tuesday.

Budget office spokesman Erik Kriss said the notices would comply with union contracts that stipulate affected workers be notified 20 days before termination. The workers will be off the state payroll by Jan. 1, he added, which honors a 2009 agreement between Paterson and the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation for no layoffs through this year.

The job cuts, the most significant since the mid-1990s, will fall heaviest on the departments of environmental conservation, transportation and parks, among others. The impact on Long Island will likely be minimal because the largest employers are SUNY, the state Insurance Fund and facilities caring for the developmentally disabled, which either aren't under the governor's control or have been exempted.

Paterson defended the layoffs, saying they were necessary to help close a $250 million gap in this year's $136-billion budget. He blasted CSEA, PEF and others for opposing alternatives such as unpaid furlough days and delaying one week's salary until the worker leaves state service.

"I don't want to lay off anybody," he said in Buffalo. "Layoffs add to the real crisis that we have, which is a revenue crisis. If you lay people off, you're bringing in less revenue."

CSEA spokesman Stephen Madarasz replied that Paterson had dismissed the union's cost-saving ideas. Madarasz also acknowledged that by waiting until next month to inform those being terminated, Paterson had probably thwarted lawsuits. "He found the loophole. . . . [The Dec. 10 notices] largely undermines our ability to challenge the legality because it complies with the terms of the agreement," said Madarasz, adding lawsuits were possible if civil service procedures are violated.

In addition to layoffs, Paterson plans to eliminate 1,102 jobs through attrition and regular retirements.

Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo Tuesday again backed the layoffs and vowed to fight union television commercials against him in the future with his own. He told TALK 1300 radio in Albany that he would raise money to pay for the commercials besides the $4 million left over from his gubernatorial campaign.