Pennsylvania Act 1975-2 — SUPPLEMENT TO THE "HOUSING AUTHORITIES LAW" OF 1937

Act text

A SUPPLEMENT

To the act of May 28, 1937 (P.L.955, No.265), entitled, as amended, "An act to promote public health, safety, morals, and welfare by declaring the necessity of creating public bodies, corporate and politic, to be known as housing authorities to engage in slum clearance, and to undertake projects, to provide dwelling accommodations for persons of low income; providing for the organization of such housing authorities; defining their powers and duties; providing for the exercise of such powers, including the acquisition of property by purchase, gift or eminent domain, the renting and selling of property, and including borrowing money, issuing bonds, and other obligations, and giving security therefor; prescribing the remedies of obligees of housing authorities; authorizing housing authorities to enter into agreements, including agreements with the United States, the Commonwealth, and political subdivisions and municipalities thereof; defining the application of zoning, sanitary, and building laws and regulations to projects built or maintained by such housing authorities; exempting the property and securities of such housing authorities from taxation; and imposing duties and conferring powers upon the State Planning Board, and certain other State officers and departments," providing for civil service protection for certain employees of certain housing authorities.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Housing authorities existing under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement, located in any city of the second class A or third class or in a county of the third to eighth class, shall within 12 months following the effective date of this act, enter into a contract with the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission for the purpose of establishing a complete civil service merit system protecting the employees of the authority. The contract shall be executed in accordance with the provisions of the act of August 5, 1941 (P.L.752, No.286), known as the "Civil Service Act," and each authority is authorized to make the payments required by that act.

Section 2. (a) The contract shall provide for a civil service merit system for all management employees including administrative nontechnical employees who are not subject to collective bargaining agreements under the act of July 23, 1970 (P.L.563, No.195), known as the "Public Employe Relations Act," of the housing authority except members thereof. The civil service commission shall use only the provisions of the "Civil Service Act" in setting standards and principles for employment with the authority. The commission shall include in the system the same duties and obligations, rights, prerogatives, and appeals provided for employees by the "Civil Service Act."

(b) The agreement shall provide that persons employed on the effective date of this act shall continue in their present positions, without taking an examination, and may be removed only in accordance with section 807 of the "Civil Service Act."

(c) The agreement shall also provide that the compensation of all authority employees shall be determined by the authority in accordance with uniform schedules adopted by the authority using the classifications established by the civil service commission as a basis for such determination. In no event shall the compensation of any person employed by an authority on the effective date of this act be reduced through an action of the civil service commission or the authority during the period he holds the same position he held on that day.

Section 3. During the period following the effective date of this act until the execution of the contract, employees shall enjoy civil service protection and may be removed only in accordance with the "Civil Service Act." Housing authorities hereafter created shall be subject to this act and shall enter into the required contract within 12 months of the date of organization.

Section 3.1. Any employee of a housing authority covered by the provisions of this supplement who, on the effective date of this amendatory act, is in provisional status and has been in provisional status since December 31, 1976, shall assume the status of a probationary employee for six months. After successful completion of the probationary period, such employee shall be granted regular status.

(3.1 added Oct. 4, 1978, P.L.998, No.209)

Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately.