1. (1) The Chief Administrator of the Courts shall place on a preferred list the names of all employees suspended or demoted from the same or similar positions in the same jurisdictional class paid by the same fiscal authority, in accordance with the provisions of section 25.30 of this Part. This preferred list shall be used for filling vacancies in the same jurisdictional class paid by the same fiscal authority in the following order: first, in the same or similar position; second, in any position in a lower title in line of promotion; and third, in any position comparable to the lower title in line of promotion. Such position need not be in the same promotion unit or unit for suspension or demotion as the employee's original position. Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subdivision, no person shall be appointed from any other list for any such position until such preferred list is exhausted.
2. (2) Employees reassigned to positions in the Unified Court System pursuant to section 25.30(f) of this Part, and suspended employees who have accepted appointments from a preferred list to positions other than their original positions pursuant to this section, may be reassigned to their original positions in their original courts or court-related agencies as vacancies occur, in order of seniority. The failure or refusal of an employee after reasonable notice to accept reassignment to such original position shall be deemed a relinquishment of his or her eligibility for reassignment to such position pursuant to this subdivision.
3. (3) The eligibility to be reinstated or reassigned pursuant to this subdivision shall not continue for more than four years from the date of reassignment, suspension or demotion.

4. (4) An employee who is eligible to be placed on a preferred list pursuant to this section and who elects, as a member of a public employee retirement system, to retire upon a suspension or demotion, shall be placed on a preferred list and shall be eligible for reinstatement from such list.

   (b) Order of reinstatement from preferred lists.

   Persons on a preferred list who were suspended or demoted from positions in courts or court-related agencies paid by the same fiscal authority shall be reinstated therefrom to vacancies in appropriate positions in the order of their original appointment. The following exceptions shall apply:

5. (1) Where the vacancy exists in a separate unit for suspension or demotion, persons suspended from or demoted in that unit shall be reinstated first.

6. (2) No person suspended or demoted before the completion of his or her probationary term shall be reinstated until the reinstatement of all other persons on the preferred list. Upon reinstatement, the probationer shall be required to complete his or her probationary term.

   (c) Salary upon reinstatement.

   A person reinstated from a preferred list to his or her former position or a similar position at the same salary grade shall receive at least the same salary received at the time of suspension or demotion.

7. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Part, any person may voluntarily remove his or her name from a preferred list by application to the Chief Administrator of the Courts.

   1. (1) The failure or refusal of a person on a preferred list after reasonable notice to accept reinstatement therefrom to his or her former position, or any similar position in the same salary grade for which such list is certified, shall be deemed to be a relinquishment of his or her eligibility for reinstatement, and such name shall thereupon be stricken from such preferred list. The name of such person may be restored to such preferred list, and certified to fill such appropriate vacancies as may thereafter occur, only upon the request of such person and such person's submission of reasons satisfactory to the Chief Administrator of the Courts for his or her previous failure or refusal to accept reinstatement.
   2. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subdivision, a person on a preferred list shall not be deemed to relinquish eligibility for reinstatement therefrom by reason of a failure or refusal to accept reinstatement to a position in a different city or county from that in which the former position was located, or to a position in a lower salary grade than the position from which he or she was suspended, demoted or displaced. The name of such person may, however, be withheld from further certification for reinstatement to a position in such other city or county or in the same or a lower salary grade than the position to which he or she failed or refused to accept reinstatement.

   3. (3) The restoration of the name of a person to a preferred list, or restoration to eligibility for certification therefrom to positions in any particular city or county or to positions in a lower salary grade than the former position, shall not invalidate or in any manner adversely affect any appointment, promotion, reinstatement, displacement or demotion previously made to any position to which such person would otherwise have been eligible for reinstatement from such preferred list.

      (f) Disqualification for reinstatement.

      The Chief Administrator of the Courts may disqualify for reinstatement from a preferred list, in the manner set forth in subdivision 7 of section 81 of the Civil Service Law, any person who is physically or mentally disabled from the performance, with or without reasonable accommodation, of the essential functions of the position for which such list is established, or who has been guilty of such misconduct as would warrant his dismissal from the public service.

      (g) Limitations of use of preferred list.

      A preferred list established pursuant to this section shall have no priority with reference to a new position created by the reclassification of an existing position pursuant to this Part whenever the use of a preferred list for filling such new position would result in the suspension of an employee pursuant to the provisions of section 25.30 of this Part.

   (e) Effect of refusal or failure to accept reinstatement from preferred list.

8. (h) The provisions of section 25.26 of this Part shall not apply to the implementation of this section.

(a) General provisions.