N.Y. PBA Law § 3161

§ 3161. Terms occurring in laws, contracts or other documents. Upon\nthe transfer pursuant to section thirty-one hundred fifty-six of this\ntitle of the functions and powers possessed by and all of the\nobligations and duties of the New York state office of science,\ntechnology and academic research as established pursuant to article\nten-B of the executive law to the foundation as prescribed by section\nthirty-one hundred fifty-six of this title, whenever the New York state\noffice of science, technology and academic research and the chairperson\nthereof, the functions, powers, obligations and duties of which are\ntransferred to the foundation are referred to or designated in any law,\ncontract or document pertaining to the functions, powers, obligations\nand duties transferred and assigned pursuant to this title, such\nreference or designation shall be deemed to refer to the foundation and\nits executive director. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, all\nrights and benefits, including terms and conditions of employment, and\nprotection of civil service and collective bargaining of all employees\naffected by the transfer of the New York state office of science,\ntechnology and academic research to the foundation, shall be preserved\nand protected under the transfer, and all transferred employees and all\npersons employed by the foundation after the transfer, except for\nresearch and investigative high technology scientists, shall be\nconsidered for all purposes of article fourteen of the civil service law\npublic employees in the civil service of the state and employees who are\ntransferred shall remain in the same collective bargaining unit and any\nnewly created positions shall be assigned to the appropriate collective\nbargaining unit as if they were employees of the state. For proposes of\nthis section, the term "research and investigative high technology\nscientists" shall mean persons with an understanding of empirical\nmethodologies, the ability to apply scientific knowledge to test\ntheories, and possessing the expertise to make systematic observations\nof natural, empirical phenomena that can also be conveyed in a\nmeaningful way to policymakers.\n