Section 78. Transfer of personnel upon the abolition of positions in state civil service

1. Where necessitated by reasons of economy,  efficiency,  consolidation  or  abolition  of functions, curtailment of activities or
  otherwise, employees may be transferred,  without  further  examination,
  from  one  agency  or  department of the state, or from the Roswell Park
  Cancer Institute as defined  in  subparagraph  (i)  of  paragraph  d  of
  section  one  of  chapter  forty-one  of  the  laws  of nineteen hundred
  ninety-seven, as  amended,  to  positions  in  the  same  title  or  any
  comparable title, as determined by the department, in another department
  or  agency  of  the state. Where more than one employee in the title and
  location from which transfer is to be made is eligible  and  willing  to
  accept transfer, the department shall place the names of those employees
  upon  a  transfer  list, and certify such list for filling vacancies, as
  hereinafter provided, first,  in  the  same  position;  second,  in  any
  position  in  a  lower  grade  in  line  of promotion; and third, in any
  comparable position. Such transfer list may be certified for  filling  a
  vacancy in any such position before certification is made from any other
  eligible  list, placement roster, reemployment or preferred list, except
  as provided in subdivision four of this section.
    2. Order of certification of names from transfer list. a. The names of
  persons on a transfer list established to fill  vacancies  in  the  same
  position  or  a  position in a lower grade in line of promotion shall be
  certified therefrom in the order  of  their  original  appointments,  in
  accordance  with  the provisions of subdivision three of section eighty,
  subdivision three of section eighty-a and subdivision seven  of  section
  eighty-five of this chapter.
    b.  The  names  of  persons  on  a  transfer  list established to fill
  vacancies in a comparable position shall  be  certified  therefrom  with
  equal ranking for appointment.
    3.  Probation.  a. Upon appointment to a position in the same title, a
  probationer shall be required to complete his or her probationary term.
    b. Completion of a probationary term, to the extent  provided  for  in
  the  rules  promulgated by the commission pursuant to subdivision two of
  section  sixty-three  of  this  chapter,  shall  be  required  for   all
  appointments to a position in a comparable title.
    4.  Relative  seniority.  Where a preferred list exists containing the
  names of persons who have been suspended or demoted from a  position  in
  the  same  title  to  which  an  appointment is to be made, the relative
  seniority, determined in accordance with the provisions  of  subdivision
  three  of  section  eighty,  subdivision  three  of section eighty-a and
  subdivision seven of section eighty-five of this chapter, of the  person
  certified first on such preferred list willing to accept appointment and
  the  person  certified  first  on  the  transfer  list willing to accept
  appointment shall be compared and the person with the greater  seniority
  shall be certified first.
    5.  Termination  of  eligibility.  Eligibility  for appointment from a
  transfer list shall terminate on the date of the suspension, demotion or
  relocation. Notwithstanding any other provision  of  this  chapter,  any
  employee  may voluntarily remove his or her name from a transfer list by
  application to the department.
    6. Rulemaking authority. The president shall adopt rules for  carrying
  into  effect  the  provisions  of  this section, including rules for the
  relinquishment of eligibility.
    7.  The  department  shall  continue  to  establish  lists  under  the
  provisions of this section.