Lake v. Bennett

In November, 1935, the Court of Appeals in Matter of Sanger v. Greene (269 N. Y. 33) held that the right of seniority among employees in the same salary grade of the civil service is conditioned by the nature of the duties performed by the several employees in that grade. Seniority rights yield, it was said, where the duties of the positions within the grade are not the same (p. 44). This view was reiterated in Matter of Brown v. Greene (269 N. Y. 45), decided at the same time.

The first problem presented here is whether legislative enactments subsequent to these decisions, and administrative…