Public Employee Press

NYPD must obey Family Leave Act

In a tremendous victory for over 1,200 union members at the 911 call center, the New York Police Dept. has agreed to stop interfering with their use of leave time allowed by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

The achievement came in the settlement of a class action lawsuit the union filed in 2006 against widespread NYPD abuses of Police Communications Technicians and Supervising PCTs trying to use their rights under the 1993 law, which the union fought hard to pass.

The FMLA allows eligible employees to take off up to 12 weeks in any 12-month period for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for an immediate family member or because of a serious health condition.

The case began when Local 1549 PCT/SPCT Chapter Chair Pam Rodriguez was denied a day off to care for her sick mother. Looking into her case, the union found a pattern of similar denials and abuses including blanket leave cancellations, forcing people with permanent conditions to recertify every 30 days — even paraplegics in wheelchairs and parents with continuing childcare needs — and denying intermittent leave, which is allowed by the law.

Rodriguez stuck her neck out as the lead plaintiff in the suit against the NYPD as the case became a class action on behalf of all the 911 workers.

Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez (no relation) praised Pam Rodriguez and the 10 members who served as named plaintiffs in the suit: “We owe special thanks to the workers who came forward,” he said. “We went to court and showed that even the police commissioner can’t violate the law!”

As Sr. Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes of the DC 37 Legal Dept. pressed the case in court, “the Police Department stopped violating our rights because they knew they were wrong,” Pam Rodriguez said. Before going to trial, the parties negotiated the settlement.

“This victory is a tribute to a unified body of workers who refused to allow management to violate their rights,” said Ron Arnero, assistant director of the DC 37 Clerical Division.

According to the agreement, the NYPD can no longer cancel, delay or interfere with FMLA leaves or retaliate against employees who use their FMLA rights, said Sykes.

“We got a little bit of money, $1,800 for the named plaintiffs and $300 for the members of the class, but we sued not for money but for our rights. The members are ecstatic and now we don’t have to be afraid to use the FMLA,” Pam Rodriguez said.