ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE [AI] IS NOT USED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN PREPARING NYPPL SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL AND QUASI-JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Dec 5, 2025

Applying the Doctrine of Legislative Equivalency,

The doctrine of legislative equivalency requires that "[t]o repeal or modify a statute requires a legislative act of equal dignity and import". 

In the instant two "companion" actions the Appellate Division affirmed Supreme Court CPLR Article 78 decisions granting the two employee applications seeking to compel the City of Schenectady to pay the two respective CPLR Article 78 Petitioners the cash value of their respective unused sick leave accruals to which they contended were entitled upon their discontinuing their employment with the City of Schenectady. 

The Appellate Division noted that in 1986 the City of Schenectady adopted had §87-13 of the Code of the City of Schenectady providing that nonunion employees "shall be entitled to convert 75% of [their] unused sick leave [credits] up to a maximum accumulation of 240 days to cash, upon termination of [their] services as an employee with the City." 

The Appellate Division also indicated that "Subsequently, Local Law No. 2011-05 amended Chapter 13 of the City Charter to grant the City Council the authority 'to fix and determine salaries, compensation and benefits of all City employees and Officers" and "Separate from this authority to establish salaries in the annual budget process, the local law provides that "[a]ll other compensation and benefits shall likewise be determined by the City Council pursuant to . . . General Municipal Law §92 and codified in Chapter 87 of the Code of the City of Schenectady (emphasis supplied by the Appellate Division)"

Holding the Doctrine of Legislative Equivalency "applies to attempts to amend a [city] code or ordinance by use of a resolution", the Appellate Division ruled that the employees named in the two appeals filed by the City of Schenectady challenging the Supreme Court's Article 78 rulings were entitled to receive appropriate payments for their unused sick leave accruals upon their discontinuing their employment with the City of Schenectady as the Schenectady City Council's attempt to supersede Chapter 87 of the City Code with a resolution "is inconsistent with the doctrine of legislative equivalency".

Click HERE to access the "lead decision" appeal before the Appellate Division, Matter of Koldin, posted on the Internet.

Click HERE to access the "companion decision" appeal before the Appellate Division, Matter of Marney, posted on the Internet.


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