New York State Employees Merit Award Board.

The State Legislature established experimentally in 1946 and permanently in 1948 a three-member State Employees' Merit Award Board to plan and administer awards programs for meritorious suggestions and accomplishments.

The Governor appointed the Board but it was administratively located in the Department of Civil Service. The Board had the authority to appoint agency committees to analyze, review, and make recommendations on State employees' suggestions and accomplishments. Between 1946 and 1961, the program's major component was the State Employees Suggestion Program in which cash and merit certificates were awarded for suggestions which increased government efficiency. Suggestions were reported to the Board by special committees established in each State agency. In 1961 the Legislature abolished the Board and transferred its authority and functions to the Civil Service Commission.