ATTICA, N.Y. – The state of New York has followed through on its threat to cancel the health insurance of striking corrections officers who refuse to go back to work.  As of Wednesday, it cancelled insurance for 5,300 corrections officers and their dependents.   But it appears, the state has also dropped some officers who were nowhere near the picket line.

Rachel’s (last name withheld) husband is a corrections officer at Attica Correctional Facility in Wyoming County.  He has been out on family and medical leave (FMLA) to care for her and their kids as she fights a rare and terminal illness. “I get IV infusion therapy in the home a couple of days a month, I also have to get chemo, I’m also on several different daily medications,” she tells News10NBC. 

Earlier this week, the family started hearing from others who work at the prison about insurance problems. “I called our health insurance immediately and they said, yes it was terminated and it was backdated to February 19th,” Rachel says. “I said, backdated? How can that even be a thing, we’re paid through until March 15th and they couldn’t give us any more information, they guided us to talk to Human Resources at the facility.”

The family called the prison right away, “she said if you can get it here by 4pm (with more paperwork) that would be great, my husband got more papers together, my doctor literally filled them out immediately for him, he turned around and took them back to the facility, they refused to take any further paperwork from him,” Rachel says. 

So, without insurance, Rachel had to cancel her chemo appointment in New York City on Friday.

Jennifer Lewke (News10NBC): “Obviously, you knew the strike was going on, did you just think you were largely insulated because he was on FMLA?”

Rachel: “100%, yes.”

Jennifer Lewke: “Was he ever asked to come in? Was he ever given a letter that said you have to be back by this date?”

Rachel: “No, no he was not.”

Jennifer Lewke: “You got no paperwork whatsoever?”

Rachel: “No, nothing absolutely nothing.”

Jennifer Lewke: “What happens from here? So, you’ve already cancelled the chemo appointment you had for later this week, and have you been able to reach anyone higher up at the prison?”

Rachel: “We have reached out to numerous places. We’ve gone to legislators, senators, I’ve sent my story to multiple places to let them know what’s going on. I did put in a grievance with NYSCOPBA which is supposed to be the union that is supposed to protect him, he does pay union dues, we have heard nothing back.”

Apparently, this family isn’t the only one complaining. The President of NYSCOBA said at a briefing on Wednesday that there have been others who were on leave and not on the picket line that lost coverage. “If they’re out on workman’s comp or medical leave, they don’t have the documentation to go back so, we have our law firm looking into it and pushing for our members,” says Chris Summers, President of NYSCOPBA.

On Monday, the Commissioner of the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services said, “anyone on FMLA, anyone on Workers Comp, anyone who was ordered back to work but had a valid reason that they had to remain out or that did remain out or would have to come in and then go back out, we would deal with those on a case-by-case basis in an expedited way and we would make sure that people who legitimately couldn’t work, weren’t penalized.”

But clearly, that’s not happening in every case.

News10NBC reached back out to NYSDHS, NYSDOCCS, and Governor Kathy Hochul’s office. 

A spokesman for NYSDOCCS insists the department will work with employees who were on leave, on a case-by-case basis to reinstate insurance if they can prove their absence isn’t strike-related and is medically necessary or if they just come back to work.

DOCCS says it reached out to prison superintendents across the state to ensure they know that HR departments should be reviewing these cases closely. 

As for the lack of notice, the state says it made robocalls, informed NYSCOPBA, and created a website with information about who would be subject to the loss of benefits but it admits letters themselves may still be in the mail as they were sent over the course of the last few days.

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