Court officers concerned about reopening

The President of the New York Court Officers Association said the court's reopening was done without a solid plan. Eagle file photo by Charisma Miller

By Jacob Kaye and Rachel Vick

The eventual return to in-person court operations was inevitable, but some members of the community remain on the fence about how it was rolled out. 

Court officers felt blindsided by the announcement of the May 24 reopening, and said they had not been consulted or notified before Chief Judge Janet DiFiore’s announced the move in her recent weekly address, Denis Quirk, president of the New York Court Officers Association, told the Eagle.

“They should have sat down with the unions and said, ‘Okay, this is what we want to do. We want to bring everybody back. So how can we best do it?’ It wasn't done,” Quirk said. “There's been zero communication with the chief judge in the state of New York since this happened on March 16 of last year.'“

The specifics of reopening have been left up to each Administrative Judge, but Quirk said nobody on his team was consulted and if they had, they would have asked for more specifics about the rules and procedures. 

Quirk worries not enough attention was given to the various touch points in the court buildings, including the elevators and locker rooms, where he says officers have very little space to keep social distance while they change. 

The union boss sued the Office of Court Administration last summer over what he said was a failure to protect court officers against COVID-19. 

Quirk said that instead of letting all staff and judges into the building at once, the OCA should have implemented a phased approach to the reopening. Letting staff into the building in stages would give court officers more time to get vaccinated, as well, Quirk said. 

Currently, the officers’ inoculation rate stands around 45 percent. While the general population’s vaccination rate isn’t much higher, Quirk worries the coronavirus will spread quickly among the unvaccinated officers as they returned to work on Monday.

Three weeks ago, nine officers contracted COVID-19 after visiting a shooting range together, according to Quirk, who added he’s concerned about how often the court buildings will be cleaned. 

“We're worried about the cleanliness of the place, and we're worried about people getting sick,” he said.

A spokesperson from the OCA told the Eagle that strict safety measures will continue to be followed, including sanitizing. 

“We are maintaining our extensive safety protocols, including: COVID screening and temperature checks, use of PPE and face masks, social distancing and strict cleaning and sanitizing,” the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson added that the OCA has “spent the last six weeks focusing on the return of all judges and court staff.”

“Administrative Judges and court managers have been hands-on to ensure that everyone will be returning to a safe and healthy workplace,” the spokesperson said.

But Quirk, who says he understands why judges and court staff, including court officers, are itching to get back to work full time, maintains the reopening process should have gone smoother. 

“Do it safely and do it with a plan,” he said. “That's the main issue.”