Correction officers tagged as chronic absentees by the city’s Department of Correction because they were laid up by the coronavirus will no longer be subject to retaliatory personnel actions, under legislation signed by Governor Cuomo July 1.
State Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Peter Abbate Jr. drew up the bill following reports that hundreds of officers had been designated chronic absentees after taking time off to recover from the virus and were denied appeals of the designation.
Being so designated would put them at risk of losing out on promotions, preferred assignments including steady tours, voluntary overtime and other benefits.
Retroactive to 2020
The president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, Benny Boscio Jr., thanked the Governor for enacting the bill.
“This legislation will correct the injustice experienced by over 800 of our members who were punished for taking sick leave because of their COVID-19 related symptoms,” he said in a statement, also thanking the two lawmakers for “taking up the fight with us” and expediting the legislation and its passage.
In a statement, DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi suggested that some officers were falsely claiming to have been sickened by the virus and were thereby cutting into the department’s staffing options.
“We know the pandemic took a terrible toll on both our uniformed and non-uniformed staff and we completely agree that no one should be penalized for being sick with COVID,” Mr. Schiraldi, who succeeded Cynthia Brann June 1, said in a statement. “What is unacceptable is for any city employee who is not legitimately suffering from COVID using it as an excuse to not come to work. I urge all DOC employees out on sick leave who are not, in fact, sick to return to work immediately to support your colleagues who faithfully come to work every day to make our department a safe and decent one, and to help restore DOC’s integrity in the eyes of New Yorkers.”
Covers All Public Workers
All public workers are now covered by the law, which prohibits their employers from taking personnel actions against those who used sick leave or compensatory time to recover from the virus. The law is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020.
According to Senator Savino, 893 officers who tested positive and had to use their sick-time allocations to meet the department’s requirements were designated chronically absent.
“For some workers, the idea of remote work is impossible, even during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” she said in a statement. “Our essential workforce, our first responders—police, fire, health-care and corrections—just cannot do it by broadband. That is why it was shocking to find out that the New York City Department of Corrections was actually punishing their own employees for following the rules that we adopted right here in the State of New York.”
Through June 25, 1,930 officers have been confirmed positive for COVID, according to a running tally compiled by the Board of Correction. At least eight officers have died of complications from the virus.
‘Beyond Outrageous’
Officers are considered chronic absentees if they report sick “on 12 or more work days within 12 months,” according to the DOC.
Senator Savino and Assemblyman Abbate drafted the bill days after finding out that the DOC had denied the appeals last fall. At the time, the Staten Island State Senator called the department’s actions “beyond outrageous.”
Citing legislation enacted early in the pandemic that guaranteed paid leave for private-sector workers who were in mandatory quarantine, she said at the time that public-sector employees, particularly essential workers, should be extended similar protections.
“No one should have to suffer a penalty for missing work because of COVID, and under this new law, every public employee in our state will get the protection they deserve—so they don’t have to face unfair consequences for doing what was necessary to protect themselves and their loved ones,” the Governor said in a statement.