[Adopted 10-2-2018 by L.L. No. 24-2018]
This Legislature hereby finds and determines that the organization
of laborers in New York State dates back over 100 years. This movement
served as a means to improve safety standards and working conditions
for workers following the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
This Legislature also finds and determines that the labor movement,
spearheaded by organized unions, has been a driving force in protecting
workers' rights, improving health and safety standards in the
workplace and obtaining financial and humanitarian benefits for workers.
This Legislature further finds and determines that since the inception
of the organized labor movement, countervailing forces have worked
to derail union representation of employees and dissuade employees
from obtaining and retaining such representation. This Legislature
finds that the United States Supreme Court recently held, in Janus
v. AFSCME, that workers are not required to finance union activity
by the deduction of dues payments from their paychecks. This Legislature
determines that the Janus decision will have a significant and deleterious
effect on the bargaining position of labor unions and, by extension,
undermine the protections they provide for the health and safety of
the workforce. This Legislature also finds that, given the Janus decision,
it is likely that there will be attempts to obtain the personal information
of labor-represented employees with the intent to entice such employees
to abandon their support of their labor representatives and thereby
undermine unions. This Legislature further finds that executive orders
have been issued by Governor Cuomo and the County Executive to protect
the personal information of public sector employees who report to
them at the state and County level, respectively. This Legislature
also determines that executive orders issued by the County Executive
are of uncertain duration and do not automatically apply to the employees
of other County elected officials. This Legislature further determines
that all County workers should have their personal information protected
from outside forces. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to
prohibit the disclosure of personal information of County employees.
A.Â
In accordance with New York Civil Service Law § 208(4)(a),
within 30 days of a Suffolk County employee first being employed or
reemployed by Suffolk County, or within 30 days of being promoted
or transferred to a new County position subject to a new bargaining
unit, Suffolk County shall notify the employee organization, if any,
that represents that bargaining unit of the employee's name,
address, job title, employing agency, department or other operating
unit, and work location.
B.Â
No Suffolk County officer or employee shall disclose the home address(es),
personal telephone number(s), personal cell phone number(s) or personal
email address(es) of a public employee, except to the extent provided
for in accordance with New York Civil Service Law, or to the extent
compelled to do so by lawful service of process, subpoena, court order,
or as otherwise required by law.
C.Â
The restrictions of this article shall not apply to work-related,
publicly available information, such as an employee's title,
salary and dates of employment.
This article shall apply to all employees employed by the County
on or after the effective date of this article.
