TBTA Maintainers Local 1931 has won a significant grievance settlement that will protect its members’ medical privacy.

The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority agreed that sick notes from members’ doctors will be secured, will be kept only at the central office and will not be entered in any computer database.

“This is a very important victory, yet it is also just a matter of applying the law,” said Lesley E. Jacobs, assistant general counsel in the DC 37 Legal Department.

The grievance originated after Local 1931 member Patrick Coletti, who had been promoted to Senior Bridge and Tunnel Maintainer, met with his supervisor for a probationary review. At the meeting, he was shocked to see a computer printout detailing his sick leave attached to the review form.

“There was a spreadsheet of my sick time that included diagnoses,” Mr. Coletti said. “It was generated from my supervisor’s computer, and three or four people have access to that machine.”

Although Mr. Coletti’s illnesses were minor and he received a “good” probationary review, the computer diagnosis list didn’t sit right with him, so he contacted the union.

“He was upset because an employee’s medical records are not for everyone to view, and the agency had no business giving them to his supervisor,” recalled ?Local 1931 President Mario Braga. Nor was the probationary review the only place where TBTA violated workers’ privacy.

“When members are out sick and return with a doctor’s note, they fill out a green sheet and the note is attached,” Mr. Braga explained. “The supervisor is supposed to copy the sheet and note for the member and forward the originals to personnel.”

However, TBTA supervisors had been copying documents from several employees at a time, then leaving the copies in an open box for them to retrieve. “So when someone is shuffling through the box looking for their own copy, they can see everyone else’s,” he said.

According to Ms. Jacobs, “It’s the law that employee medical documents must be kept separate and secure from other personnel materials.” The New York State Personal Privacy Protection Act spells this out in detail. Presented with Local 1931’s grievance, she said, “The TBTA recognized what had to be done and entered into a consent agreement that went along with the union’s recommendations.”

Meanwhile, says Mr. Braga, the local is headed to arbitration with a separate sick-leave grievance. The union is challenging a unilateral TBTA policy change, instituted a year ago, requiring members to go to the agency doctor on the first day of sick leave, rather than providing a doctor’s note after the third consecutive sick day.