COs Laid Off In '03 Retain Full Seniority Rights

By REUVEN BLAU

The Correction Officers Benevolent Association has persuaded the Bloomberg administration to grant full pension and service credit to the 315 officers who were laid off in 2003 to help the city cut costs but then subsequently rehired.

NORMAN SEABROOK: Good news for 315 COs.

COBA President Norman Seabrook hailed the move, noting that the union had also supported legislation to enable all those officers to purchase service credit for their duration of unemployment.

'Didn't Lose Anything'

"When they came back, they came back to the original date of appointment," he remarked during a Sept. 11 phone interview. "So that they didn't lose anything as far as seniority; the retirement date changes, but everything else stayed the same."

He recalled that city negotiators attempted to use the threat of layoffs to convince the union to agree to key wage and benefit concessions. "The City of New York tried to hold us hostage," he recalled. "They told us, 'If you do X, Y and Z you'll be able to save the 315 Correction Officers.'''

The union instead accepted the layoffs, rationalizing that the affected officers "could go on unemployment" and that it would continue to cover their health and life insurance benefits, Mr. Seabrook said. "On one hand they actually made more money by being able to collect unemployment," he added.

According to COBA, the Payroll Division has recently adjusted all the rehired officers to their original title entry date.

The May 2003 layoffs, which also affected other city agencies, infuriated Mr. Seabrook, who shortly afterwards demanded that Correction Commissioner Martin F. Horn resign. The laid-off Correction Officers, however, were rehired within a year, and the two men have since had a generally cordial relationship.