Palisades Interstate Park Commission shall have power to appoint such employees as it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of the Palisades Interstate Park compact and the purposes of this subtitle, subject to the provisions of the applicable Civil Service Statute of the party states, and may employ counsel. It may also determine the duties of its appointees, and make all reasonable rules and regulations respecting them. The commission shall have power to take any action necessary for securing and maintaining the benefits of the State employee retirement system of this State for its employees in this State and for such purpose employees of the commission to the extent to which the compensation paid for their services is derived from funds appropriated by this State or received from other sources in this State shall be deemed to be employees of this State and qualified for membership in said retirement system whether residents of this State or of the State of New York. For the purpose of determining their rights under the workers’ compensation act of this State, employees of the commission employed wholly or partly in this State, and persons participating, under the supervision of the commission, in volunteer programs in that part of the Palisades Interstate Park located in New Jersey, shall be deemed to be employees of this State.

Employees of the commission whose salary is paid in full from funds appropriated by this State shall be deemed to be employees of this State for the purpose of covering such employees under the provisions of Title 11 (Civil Service) of the Revised Statutes as herein provided.

All offices, positions or employments held by such employees on the effective date of this amendatory act and so held continuously for a period of not less than six months prior thereto, which can be allocated to the classified service in accordance with the provisions of Title 11 of the Revised Statutes, shall be so allocated under appropriate titles by the Civil Service Commission and such persons shall be recorded, without examination, as having been permanently appointed thereto as of the dates of their respective original appointments by the commission under said titles and shall thereafter be under and subject to all provisions of Title 11 relating to the classified service of the civil service. Those positions which the Civil Service Commission shall determine should be allocated to the unclassified service, shall be allocated to the unclassified service.

In the case of any such employees whose positions have been classified and allocated by the Civil Service Commission to a salary range corresponding to a range in the State compensation plan to which range positions having the same title in the service of the State, if any, are allocated and whose salaries in such range have been determined in accordance with the provisions of Title 11, the salaries of such employees upon being placed in allocated positions in the service of the State shall, with the approval of the budget director, be determined in the same manner as though they had been holding allocated positions in the service of the State. Other employees deemed to be employees of the State shall continue to be paid the salaries received by them immediately prior to the effective date of this act, but the salary of any such employee shall not be less than the minimum salary of the State salary range in which his position is allocated nor in excess of the maximum salary of such range.

The Civil Service Commission shall make provisions for transfer of all employees’ sick and vacation leave as well as seniority credits accrued prior to allocation of their positions to the classified service.

Amended by L. 1939, c. 191, s. 4; 1970, c. 130; 1987, c. 259, s. 1.