First and foremost, before I get into the purpose of this article, I want to thank each-and-every Correction Officer in this state for their hard work and dedication to keeping our community safe. I understand that many of you feel forgotten and even turned upon by our elected officials, but please know that there are many who stand with you, appreciate you and will continue to fight with and for you.
Every time a Correction Officer reports to work, they understand that their health, safety and life are at risk. They accept the daily reality that within their place of employment there are hundreds of individuals who would not give it a second thought to cause them great physical harm. However, a Correction Officer also understands that if the worst were to befall him/her, the New York State Legislature has passed a series of laws that provide them with disability pension benefits and, God forbid, accidental death benefits for their loved ones. Such benefits provide little solace to a gravely injured officer, nor to a grieving widow; but they can, and do, provide economic stability to a family in need. However, COVID-19 has exposed a gaping hole in this aforementioned bargained for safety-net.
Not only have departments shown themselves to be woefully unprepared for this virus, failing to provide officers with basic personal protective equipment and seemingly more concerned with the inmates’ safety than that of the officers, but COVID-19 brings with it another grave injustice. That is, officers permanently harmed by the virus do not have any disability pension protection. There is no COVID-19 ¾’s benefit. Further, it is doubtful that the various pension systems will treat the “COVID-19” crisis as an “accident” for death benefit purposes. Remember, in order to be deemed an “accident” under the law the injury must be caused by something “outside the normal risks of one’s duties.” While there is a legal argument that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a “normal risk” of a CO’s ordinary job duties, I expect that the administrative agencies will argue that everyone was aware of COVID-19 at a certain point in time and all “essential personnel” bore the risk of contraction of the virus after such point.
We must push for IMMEDIATE legislative action to fix this injustice. We cannot wait for the bureaucratic wheels to slowly turn. Instead, we must push legislation forward for those families that will face a potentially devastating economic crisis; a crisis incurred only because Officers followed their orders, reported to work and were attacked by an invisible adversary. Time is of the essence. We must push legislation to fix these problems before Albany breaks for the summer. If we expect our officers to continue to risk their lives against enemies, both seen and unseen, we must provide them with the peace of mind that they have sufficient disability and death benefit coverage!
Let’s fix the pension laws and help protect those that protect us!
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