UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 2, 2007

UUP supports call to restore state employees’ rights

United University Professions—the union representing faculty at the State University of New York—fully supports the new Assembly bill that would restore the right of state employees to sue New York state under several federal statutes.

UUP joined Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton and five other Assembly members at a news conference in calling for passage of the bill (A.7653) that would waive the state’s “sovereign immunity” against such litigation.

Sovereign immunity makes state governments immune to lawsuits even when they violate individual rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. UUP President William E. Scheuerman said sovereign immunity hits state employees especially hard because it means they can no longer sue their employers when their rights are violated under these federal laws.

“Shielding state government from such lawsuits is an injustice, and makes state employees second-class citizens,” he said. “Although private employers, businesses and corporations can still be sued for violations, state governments are immune to such suits and state employees are denied the means to enforce their rights under these laws.”

Vice President for Academics Fred Floss and Sally Knapp, chair of the union’s Human and Civil Rights Committee, represented UUP at the news conference.

UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York state-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and AFL-CIO.

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