By: Steven Isaacs
Partner, Isaacs, Devasia, Castro & Wien LLP
General Counsel, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association
Under the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association’s recent Memorandum of Agreement, The New York City Department of Correction (DOC) “shall send the union a copy of any directive or order affecting terms and conditions of employment at least ten (10) calendar days prior to issuance, except where the Department determines emergency circumstances make such a timeframe impracticable, in which case the policy will be shared as soon as practicable prior to issuance.” This important provision exists for many reasons, including, before the policy comes into effect, (1) providing COBA an opportunity to review it; (2) possibly challenge it in Court; and (3) discuss it with the DOC in order to suggest important changes. On July 24, 2020, the DOC provided to COBA a copy of Operations Order 10/20, which specifically impacts and modifies the command discipline process. The DOC did not provide COBA with the ten days for which it bargained. COBA filed a grievance, seeking arbitration, and is now seeking a Court order to stop the effectiveness of the policy pending arbitration.
On August 3, 2020, COBA filed an improper practice petition with the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining seeking an immediate injunction preventing the implementation and enforcement of DOC Operations Order 10/20. Operations Order 10/20 permits the DOC to conduct Use of Force disciplinary proceedings as both Command Discipline and Memoranda of Complaints for a single incident. This will result in harsher penalties, duplicate proceeding and an acceleration of the loss of the Command Discipline option for Correction Officers. Operations Order 10/20 was implemented without prior negotiations as required by the New York City Collective Bargaining Law. COBA argues in its petition that the failure to bargain will result in immediate and irreparable harm to officers with both Command Discipline and Memoranda of Complaints currently pending and any who may be charged in either process going forward. As the City has a mandatory duty to bargain over disciplinary procedure, COBA argues that the failure to bargain over Operations Order 10/20 prior to implementation violates the Collective Bargaining Law and that the instant nature of the harm warrants injunctive relief.