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Newsline: March 2004

Union Wins Assault Clause Arbitration Awards

Two years after the NYPD denied School Safety Agent Rosemary Fuentes’ request for “Line of Duty Injury” benefits for injuries she suffered while breaking up a fight at her school, the agent finally found justice when an arbitrator awarded her 18 months of back pay.

Fuentes was just doing her job at the Manhattan Center Math and Science High School when she responded to a call about a fight on the second floor of the high school on Sept. 20, 2002. She radioed for backup and rushed up the stairs to break up a fight between two girls, which had now drawn a crowd of cheering onlookers. Somehow, in the process, Fuentes was jumped from behind by a student who knocked her to the ground and started pummeling her. Fuentes does not recall much more after the beating she received, but a teacher told her she had pulled her out from under a mob.

Fuentes filed a C-2 claim for Line of Duty benefit. When the NYPD denied Fuentes the benefit at steps 1 and 2 of the grievance process, Local 237 filed a “Request for Arbitration” on April 3, 2002, with the Office of Collective Bargaining.

At arbitration on Jan. 9, 2004, the union argued that “under Article 5 Section 10, Fuentes is entitled to a leave of absence of up to 18 months duration if she has been physically disabled because of an assault arising out of and in the course of her employment, and her injury is deemed by the Compensation Division of the Law Department or by a determination of the Workers’ Compensation Board to be compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Law.”

Arbitrator Randy E. Lowitt agreed that Fuentes’ case satisfied the provision and granted her a “Consent Award” which stipulated that she “be paid for the period of 9/20/02 to the present,” and that she continue to be paid for up to 18 months so long as she is covered by Workers’ Compensation.

Fuentes is one of four members who recently won arbitration awards after the city refused to pay them for the time they were unable to work as a result of their line of duty injuries.

SSA Robert Lasky

In the case of SSA Robert Lasky, Arbitrator Earl Pfeffer found that the city violated the collective bargaining agreement with the union by denying him benefits for injuries in the line of duty under Article 5, Section 10 of the agreement. Lasky filed a “C-2” claim after he was injured in March 1999 while apprehending a student.

At arbitration, Local 237 asked that Lasky be awarded the difference between his salary and the Workers’ Compensation benefits for the entire grievance period. Although the city denied any violation of the contract, the arbitrator disagreed and awarded Lasky compensation for the entire grievance period of March 3, 1999, through May 21, 2000.

SSA Evangeline Dancy

In a similar case, SSA Evangeline Dancy won a large part of her grievance against the NYPD. Arbitrator Pfeffer ordered the city to pay Dancy her full salary for 15 months less any Workers’ Compensation benefits she received from March 2, 2001, through June 1, 2002. Pfeffer denied the last three months of Dancy’s grievance but granted her the “right to resubmit her claim and refile a grievance” as soon as she can prove that she is eligible for Workers’ Compensation for the three-month period from June 2, 2002, through Sept. 2, 2002.

Dancy was on duty at Graphics High School on March 2, 2001, when she was assaulted by a student. Her injuries left her unable to return to work. Her request for line of duty benefits was turned down by the Police Department even though they did not dispute her testimony that her injury resulted from an assault by a student. Dancy has since left her job.

HPO Marilyn Santiago

Hospital Police Officer Marilyn Santiago also won an Expedited Award against the Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), Dec. 10, 2003, for injuries she suffered while trying to remove a person who appeared to be loitering in the public waiting area at Metropolitan Hospital Center on Dec. 15, 2000. She filed for benefits under the assault clause after a man pushed her through a glass window, causing injuries to her face and head. HHC denied her grievance, charging that her injuries were the result of an accident.

Pfeffer sustained the grievance in Dec. 2003 and awarded Santiago the difference between her salary and Workers’ Compensation benefits for 18 months, the maximum period allowed under the Assault Clause provision.

“It’s ludicrous that we have to go through every step of the grievance process to get justice for members, but that’s the game the city plays, even though we almost always win at arbitration,” said Local 237’s Grievance Coordinator Deborah Singer, Esq. “Unfortunately, these awards do not force NYPD and other agencies to do what’s right by the members in the first place, because Expedited Awards do not create a precedent for similar cases.”

“Even though we have a grievance process, like everything else, city unions are at the mercy of the city’s Office of Labor Relations,” said Local 237 President Carl Haynes. “Unfortunately, the city does not respect the grievance process. Even though the city knows it is liable, we have to fight for everything we get. The city seems to operate under the assumption that if it ignores these grievances then they will just go away and the people who file them will move on. That may be the case for some unions who cannot afford the cost of fighting a grievance to arbitration, but Local 237 is committed to following through on every single grievance that we believe is winnable. It takes time, but if you are patient, the result is often very rewarding.”

The union and the city share the cost of taking the case to arbitration.

SSA Rosemary Fuentes

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