Eastchester REVIEW THE
0ctober 5, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 41 | www.eastchesterreview.com
BOL mulls banning criminal conviction questions
IT’S A MATCH In an effort to foster artistic creativity in the county, Arts Westchester and Westchester government are teaming up for a matching grants program. For more, see page 6.
County OKs nurse contract; CSEA still in limbo With an affirmative vote by the Westchester County Board of Legislators, a contract with the New York State Nurses Association has officially been adopted. The new six-year contract, retroactive to 2016, locks in 2.5 percent raises in 2018, 2019 and 2021, while guaranteeing a 3 percent raise in 2020. The contract will not include retroactive raises for 2016 or 2017, however. The contract will affect 43 nurses who work in social services, community colleges and jails across the county. While this union contract closes, the county’s biggest union, which remains without a new contract, still looms. The Civil Service Employees Association, CSEA, has been operating without a new contract since 2010, and is in the midst of negotiations with the administration of County Executive
George Latimer, a Democrat, after failing to come to terms during the tenure of former County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican who left office at the end of 2017. A new preliminary contract was handed down to the CSEA union ,but has yet to be approved. A new iteration would require members to pay into their health coverage for the first time, a stipulation that proved to be a deal breaker when the union rejected a proposal in 2016. Because of retroactive raises and the amount of workers in the union—more than 3,000—county officials have shown concern that a new contract could upset an already delicate financial situation for county government. In May, a financial review of county debt projections for the 2018 fiscal year put this year’s budget shortfall at $28.7 million.
A bill to ban pre-emptive questions about criminal history during job interviews will be considered by the Westchester County Board of Legislators, after being introduced last week. “The Fair Chance to Work Act is a measure whose time has come,” said one of the bill’s sponsors Catherine Borgia, a Peekskill Democrat. “Other jurisdictions, states and New York City have passed this to good effect. Eliminating the question of criminal background on initial application has broad bipartisan support in the business community. This law does not limit background checks, but allows an applicant to tell a more complete story of his or her background.” The introduction of a law comes several months after County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, signed an executive order barring county government employment forms from asking about criminal history. The proposed measure , which is currently being discussed in the Board of Legislators’ Committee on Labor and Housing, would codify Latimer’s previous order into law. Unlike the executive order, this law would apply to both public and private sector employers. The goal of the law, according to preliminary documents submitted
to committee meetings, would be to increase the likelihood that convicted criminals may gain employment and subsequently lower the rate of recidivism. While there is no draft of the legislation yet, committee documents show that lawmakers do not intend to regulate employers verbally inquiring about criminal history. Advocates for banning questions regarding criminal history argue that those inquires unfairly discriminate against employees. New York State law forbids all employers from discriminating against job applicants based on their criminal history unless the crime has a direct relationship to the intended position. Westchester would join nearly 150 cities and counties nationwide, including New York City and the city of Yonkers, who have both abolished the practice of inquiring about criminal history on job forms. While a similarly proposed piece of legislation pushed by county Democrats in 2016 would have also applied the ban to private businesses as well as public sector employment with county government, that initiative never made its way out of committee. Contrary to 2016, Democrats, today, hold a supermajority control of the Board of Legislators. -Reporting by James Pero
A union contract with the New York State Nurses Association was officially adopted by the Board of Legislators last week
That number, however, does not factor in costs associated with the any new CSEA contract. County Budget Director Richard Soule forecasted that the CSEA contract could end up totaling upwards of $40 million. As a result of the county’s structural budget deficit—which stems from spending more mon-
ey than it generates in revenue— lawmakers will likely be forced to look at the prospect of increasing property taxes by raising the property tax levy. The county is hopeful of finalizing a deal with the CSEA before the impending 2019 budget season begins this fall. -Reporting by James Pero
County lawmakers will codify a previously signed executive order that bars employers from asking about prior convictions in the application process. Photo courtesy Flickr.com