Susan

and Wayne,

This is response to issues both of you have raised with
me regarding the eect of the recent elec<on
complaint led by Susan Kent on who takes oce on
August 1, 2015.

I am the aHorney for the organiza<on, and this is my
legal opinion regarding this issue.

The P EF cons<tu<on provides that aMer the founding
conven<on, "[a]ll subsequent terms of oce shall
commence on August 1 in each year." Ar<cle X I.B.
The elec<on of Wayne Spence, the other statewide
ocers and the trustees was cer<ed by A AA as
required by Ar<cle X of the P EF Cons<tu<on on July 2,
2015. Thus, the term of President Elect Spence and
the other newly elected ocers and trustees begins on
August 1, 2015.

As you know, it has been publicly released that Susan
Kent, the other current ocers and two of the current
trustees led an elec<on appeal challenging the 2015
triennial elec<on results. As you know, the triennial
elec<on rules, which were adopted by the execu<ve
board, provide for an elec<on appeals process. Rule

XII. Briey, that elec<on appeals process provides that

a complaint can be led with the elec<on commiHee,
which was done here, and an appeal can be led from
a decision of the Elec<on commiHee to the Execu<ve
Board. It is my opinion that during that appeal, the
AAA cer<ed elected ocers would remain in oce.
This is based on the above-cited cons<tu<onal
provision Ar<cle X I.B and Rule X III of the elec<on rules
which provide that nothing in the elec<on procedures
shall prevent "any P EF ocer [which includes
President Elect Spence] from fullling normal
obliga<ons during the pendency of an appeal."

Lastly under the Labor Management and Disclosure
Act ("LMRDA"), if a complaint were led with the U S
DOL, which can only be done aMer exhaus<on of P EF's
internal remedies or 4 months from the ling of the
internal complaint, and if the U SDOL brought li<ga<on
and proved to a court by a preponderance of the
evidence that an elec<on viola<on occurred and it may
have aected the outcome, then an new elec<on could
be ordered. Again, based on the above-provision of
our cons<tu<on and the L MRDA, the ocers cer<ed
on July 2, 2015 would remain in oce un<l a new
elec<on was run. 29 U SC 482. Li<ga<on brought
against P EF would be defended by the Oce of

General.

Lisa M . K ing
General Counsel
NYS P ublic Employees Federa<on, A FL-CIO
1168-70 Troy-Schenectady Road
PO Box 12414
Albany, N ew York 12212-2414