United States 1967

Synopsis

The Taylor Law is the common name for New York State's Public Employee Fair Employment Act, Article 14 of the New York State Civil Service Law, which was enacted in 1967. It is named for the chairman of the commission that proposed it. The Taylor Law replaced the Condon-Wadlin Act of 1947, which forbade public employees from striking but made no alternative provisions for settling labor disputes, which effectively left most public employees with few legal options. The Taylor Law was first considered and enacted following a massive, illegal strike of New York City transit workers in 1966, which, among other things, destroyed any impression that the Condon-Wadlin Act did any good whatsoever.

The Taylor Law is to New York State's public sector what the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is to most private sector employees in the United States. Its relatively liberal provisions are probably in...