Comp Law protections extended to DOCS members A recent amendment to the state Workers’ Compensation Law extends protections to the majority of PEF members who are civilian employees of the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS). Nurses, counselors and other DOCS employees who are exposed to blood or other bodily fluids from inmates will now be entitled to workers’ comp benefits. The union encouraged this extension of workers’ compensation coverage for lost wages and medical costs for employees exposed to bloodborne pathogens at work. PEF Region 4 Coordinator David Stallone, the union’s labor-management chair at DOCS, worked with other PEF leaders to broaden the legislation. “Workers’ compensation claims were being controverted when possible exposures resulted from fluids thrown on employees by inmates. So, we needed to take action.” “PEF had a number of discussions with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) and administrators from DOCS for an amendment to expand and clarify the original bill which was passed two years ago,” said PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran. That bill only protected corrections officers who suffered possible exposure. “With the recent amendment, the vast majority of employees working in prisons are covered, but a small number who work for the Division of Parole and and the state Office of Mental Health are not,” Curran added. “So, PEF is pushing the state to address this issue. GOER is still telling us they want another revision and we’re hoping for a bill that would cover 100 percent of the people who might have some exposure to blood or bodily fluids.” “We have members who go to correctional facilities as their worksites, but are not employees of the correctional institutions,” said PEF Executive Board Member Bernie Kahn, who chairs PEF’s Workers’ Compensation Committee. “The weakness is that the amendment applies only to all DOCS employees and not to Parole or OMH employees who work in prisons,” added PEF Director of Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Rosen. “We hope to expand the bill next year to include workers from all affected agencies,” Rosen said. — Deborah A. Miles