§ 1230-l. Transfer of officers and employees. 1. In accordance with the provisions of section seventy of the civil service law, any officer or employee of the city that currently works in the system, may, at the request of the water board and with the consent of such city and board, be transferred to the water board and shall be eligible for such transfer and appointment, without further examination, to applicable offices, positions and employment under the water board. Any such officers or employees so transferred to the water board pursuant to this section, who are members of or benefit under any existing pension or retirement fund or system, shall continue to have all rights, privileges, obligations and status with respect to such fund or system as are now prescribed by law, but during the period of their employment by the water board, all contributions to such funds or systems to be paid by the employer on account of such officers or employees shall be paid by the water board.

2. A transferred employee shall remain in the same collective bargaining unit as was the case prior to his or her transfer; successor employees to the positions held by such transferred employees shall, consistent with the provisions of article fourteen of the civil service law, be included in the same unit as their predecessors. Employees serving in positions in newly created titles shall be assigned to the same collective bargaining unit as they would have been assigned to such unit were such titles created prior to the establishment of the water board. Nothing contained in this title shall be construed (a) to diminish the rights of employees pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or (b) to affect existing law with respect to an application to the public employment relations board seeking a designation by the board that certain persons are managerial or confidential.