“Out-of-Title” Work Did Not Warrant Higher Pay

Petitioner was a sergeant at Butler Alcohol and Substance Abuse Correctional Facility and he alleged he was assigned as shift supervisor, requiring him to perform the work of a correction lieutenant.  In upholding a determination that petitioner’s “out-of-title” work did not entitle him to more pay, the Third Department noted:

While Civil Service Law § 61 (2) seemingly provides an “unqualified prohibition against nonemergency out-of-title work,1 case law has made the standard somewhat more flexible based on practicality” ….   “Not all additional duties constitute out-of-title work but, instead, the question is whether the new duties are appropriate to petitioner[‘s] title[] and/or  are similar in nature to, or a reasonable outgrowth of, the duties listed in petitioner[‘s] job specifications” … . “‘[A]n employee’s performance of overlapping functions of an absent supervisor has not been found to establish a violation of Civil Service Law § 61 (2) where such functions were substantially similar to those detailed in his or her job description'” … .  Matter of New York State Correctional Officers … v Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, et al, 515409, 515410, 3rd Dept, 4-11-13