Senate Finance Committee advances PERB chair nomination after year of cuts to backlog

Timothy Connick, the chair of the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, told the Senate Finance Committee on June 10 that the board has reduced a backlog of late administrative-law-judge decisions and increased the number of board rulings since he took the chair a year ago, and the committee voted to move his nomination to the full Senate.

Connick told members he has focused on clearing delayed administrative-law-judge (ALJ) decisions and improving the board’s processes. “We could sometimes wait two or three years to get a decision,” he said, and described a drop in ALJ decisions that had not been issued within 90 days of closing briefs from 42 last summer to 20 as of May 27 — a 52% reduction, he said. He also said the board issued 51 decisions in the most recent year, compared with 21 decisions in calendar year 2023, which he characterized as a 143% increase in board decisions.

The committee’s questions focused on staffing, language access and how PERB is handling contentious labor developments. Connick said he asked for additional staff in the recent budget and that five additional staff positions were approved. He also told the committee PERB employs a bilingual election supervisor and said he is seeking additional bilingual adjudicatory staff to improve language access for farm workers and other non-English-speaking parties.

Connick described work to implement and clarify the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act (FLPA), which extended collective bargaining rights to farmworkers and prompted a series of rules and decisions. “In April, we filed several proposed rules which will clarify some sticky issues in the area,” he said, and noted that 17 of the board’s 51 decisions in the past year involved the FLPA.

He also addressed the board’s role following large job actions. Connick said PERB’s primary role after such strikes is to adjudicate strike charges — for example, whether a union should be disciplined for an illegal strike — and that staff is preparing for litigation connected to the recent dock strike. He noted the board has been examining whether any statutory or procedural tweaks are needed to handle large-scale work stoppages more effectively.

On federal labor agencies, Connick told committee members that cuts at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and staff departures at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may increase demand for state-level services. He said PERB has begun offering mediators for private-sector disputes where possible, and is monitoring developments at the NLRB.

Committee members pressed for additional data on time-to-decision metrics. Connick said PERB is implementing a new case-management system and expected it in early 2026, which he said will provide more reliable statistics. Several senators raised concerns about whether PERB is adequately resourced to handle increased mediation or other tasks if federal capacity continues to decline.

The committee then moved both nominations before it. By voice vote, senators present voted to advance Connick’s nomination and the nomination of Barbara Dimhart (an unpaid PERB appointment who did not appear for the interview) to the floor for full Senate consideration.

The committee did not take roll-call vote counts during the meeting; senators announced voice votes and the motions were reported as moved to the floor.