Public Employee Press

DC 37 battles city on Sandy leave policy; arbitrator issues split decision on 2010 blizzard

An arbitrator ruled Feb. 11 that the city had the right to make the thousands of employees who were absent during the blizzard of Dec. 26-28, 2010, choose between losing pay and using their leave balances.

Arbitrator Deborah Gaines also ordered the city to restore leave days to individuals who made it to work only to find their work sites closed and ruled that the city must restore the leave balances of disabled employees who could not get to work during the storm.

Her decision requires the city to establish contingency plans for employees with disabilities for future transportation emergencies, which the city had failed to do before the 2010 blizzard.

"This decision is a mixed bag, and we are disappointed with the ruling to not excuse most of the absences," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. She said the union looks forward to working with the city on the contingency plans and will fight for justice under the decision for workers who showed up at closed facilities.

Currently, the union is battling the city over a more recent weather-related issue. DC 37 filed a mass grievance against Mayor Bloomberg's decision that members who were unable to report to work during Hurricane Sandy must use their annual leave or lose pay for the days they missed.

Union negotiators and lawyers argued DC 37's case on the Sandy absences at a step 3 grievance hearing Feb 22. No reply has come from the city,

"The Sandy policy is inconsistent with the city's flexibility in past instances when members were unable to get to work," DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Evelyn Seinfeld said. "During Sandy, we faced a state of emergency in which transportation was crippled, homes were flooded, thousands were without heat and electricity, and it was dangerous to go outside."

When Sandy hit New York City in October, the mayor urged residents to remain at home but said he expected city employees to report to work if they could do so safely and their offices were open. He said workers had to use their annual leave if they wanted to be paid for absences.

"Penalizing those who could not get to work through no fault of their own is unreasonable and unconscionable," Roberts said, More reasonable employers, including New York State, the court system and many private businesses, recognized that their workers had legitimate reasons for being unable to get to their jobs and excused absences.

The city's Sandy policy seemed to ignore the insurmountable obstacles that kept many DC 37 members from getting to work, such as the lack of public transportation and terrible problems at home. The union estimates that more than 200 members lost their homes to Sandy's flooding and high winds, and thousands suffered severe damage.

"We obviously don't agree with the arbitrator about the 2010 blizzard absences," said Assistant General Counsel Alan Brown, who has represented DC 37 in disputes related to emergency conditions since 1996 and is arguing the union's case in the Sandy battle.

"In its impact on the infrastructure, Sandy was the worst natural disaster in the city's history. It was more like a blackout than a snowstorm," Brown said.

—Gregory N. Heires