Mayor allows 12-hour shifts for correctional officers
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Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order this week allowing for correctional officers to work 12-hour shifts. Photo via Mayor Bill de Blasio/Flickr
By Jacob Kaye
Anticipating a worsening staff shortage as the deadline for corrections officers to get vaccinated passed, Mayor Bill de Blasio passed an executive order this week lengthening the hours officers can be assigned to work.
On Monday, de Blasio passed an executive order allowing for the assigning of 12-hour shifts to officers ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 30 deadline for officers to get the jab.
Increasing the shift time will “ensure adequate staffing at city jails in advance of the...vaccination deadline,” according to the DOC.
“The officers coming to work every day have gone above and beyond to support their city,” DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi said in a statement. “While we hope every member of service understands how important it is to be vaccinated, we also recognize that we must be prepared.”
“This is a step that other city agencies took and it’s one we felt was appropriate for us,” Schiraldi added.
Though workers at most city agencies were given until Oct. 29 to get at least one dose of the vaccine or face being placed on administrative leave, DOC uniformed officers were given a month-long extension. De Blasio and DOC leadership cited the historic staff shortage of officers out on sick leave or AWOL as a reason for delaying the mandate.
At the time the mandate was announced, around 46 percent of officers were at least partially inoculated against the virus. As of this week, around 73 percent of uniformed staff have gotten at least one dose, according to the DOC.
Despite the increase in vaccinated staff, around 2,200 unvaccinated correctional officers stood to be placed on administrative leave, without pay heading into Wednesday. That’s on top of the 1,400 to 1,600 uniformed staff who were out sick and the 17 to 52 who were AWOL on any given day from late September until early November.
Prior to the mandate, about 29 percent of uniformed staff had been unavailable to work, intentionally or unintentionally, over the course of the past several months, according to a recent report from the federal monitor appointed to oversee Rikers Island.
Unvaccinated officers without pending accommodation requests will be placed on leave without pay beginning Dec. 1. Those officers won’t receive a paycheck, will be forced to hand over their gun, vest and shield, and will not be eligible for holiday pay or a uniform allowance until they show proof of vaccination.
De Blasio’s executive order suspends subdivisions b and c of section 9-116 of the city’s Administrative Code, allowing for the DOC to establish “additional or alternative tours for uniformed officers,” according to the DOC.
Most of the increased hours will be divided into two shifts – one between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and the other from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., according to the agency.
Benny Boscio, the president of the Correctional Officers’ Benevolent Association, bashed the decision to pass the executive order.
“Just as he prepares to leave office while also leaving our jails in the worst conditions ever, Mayor de Blasio has issued one more reckless and misguided order that will only drive our jails into a deeper crisis and will wreak complete havoc on both our officers and the inmates in our custody,” Boscio said.
As the city and COBA head into contract negotiations next year, the length of officers’ tours has been at the center of the fight between the city and the union for the past year.
Officers and their union leaders have rallied several times since the summer demanding an end to the use of triple and quadruple shifts, which they say are often assigned without notice.
The long tours are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, in which officers allege they were denied meal breaks and medical attention while being forced to work 24 to 32 hours straight.
“Our essential officers have already suffered immensely by being forced to work 24 hours plus without meals and rest since the pandemic,” Boscio said. “Increasing their tours from eight to twelve hours and allowing the DOC to order them to work back to back 12 hour tours, 24 consecutive hours, without meals and rest is nothing short of torture.”
As part of the city’s efforts to quell the crisis on Rikers Island – this year has been the deadliest in the jail complex since 2016 – the mayor and Schiraldi promised to end the use of triple shifts, a promise Boscio said was wasted with the latest executive order.
“The same Mayor who vowed that triple shifts were ending for correction officers in October is now guaranteeing every officer work 24 hours plus with this dangerous executive order,” the union head said. “If officers are unable to operate under such grueling conditions, the safety and security of everyone in our jails will be completely compromised. We will do everything we can to fight this.”
The DOC says it’s engaged in a multi-pronged approach to convince its officers to get the vaccine. The agency has hosted town halls and family days, made robocalls, distributed palm cards, introduced a $500 vaccination incentive, shown a video message featuring famous New Yorkers, hung pro-vaccination signs around jail facilities and hired an LED truck driver to drive around Rikers Island sharing their message.
