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possible for him or her to report to work or notify the appointing authority,

or the appointing authority’s designee, of the reason for his or her absence.

The appointing authority shall issue a short response within 5 calendar days
after receipt of such explanation. If the employee is not satisfied with the

response, CSEA, upon the employee’s request, may appeal the appointing
authority’s response to the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations

within 5 calendar days after receipt of the appointing authority’s response.
The Director of the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, or the

Director’s designee, shall issue a written response within 5 calendar days
after receiving such appeal. Determinations made pursuant to this

subsection shall not be arbitrable.

Article 37
Civil Service Law Section 72 Hearings

The State and CSEA shall jointly agree to a permanent panel of hearing
officers to review employee appeals brought pursuant to Section 72 of the

New York State Civil Service Law, to be administered by the Department
of Civil Service. Members of this panel shall be jointly selected by the State

and CSEA and shall serve for the term of this Agreement. The composition
of this panel may be changed by mutual agreement of the State and CSEA.

Article 38

Work-Life Services
§38.1 Employee Assistance Program

The State and CSEA shall continue to provide an employee assistance

program to provide information, resources and confidential assessment
and referral services to assist employees to be more productive and to assist
agencies in maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.

In recognition of the mutual advantage to the employees and the

employer inherent in an employee assistance program the State shall
prepare, secure introduction and recommend passage by the Legislature

of such legislation as may be appropriate and necessary to obtain an
appropriation in the amount indicated in each year of the 2016-2021

Agreement: $687,663 in 2016-2017, $701,416 in 2017-2018, $715,444 in
2018-2019, $729,753 in 2019-2020, and $744,348 in 2020-2021 to

continue the Employee Assistance Program effort.

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