The Streets Were Paved with Gold - Ken Auletta [91]
Some city managers receive straight overtime pay. The former executive assistant to the Fire Commissioner accumulated almost $11,000 in one recent 9-month period. Police lieutenants and fire marshals also receive overtime pay. The potential harm of overtime pay for managerial personnel is suggested by looking at detectives. They used to work round the clock until a case was broken. It was a matter of professional pride. The reward: promotions, or just getting to keep their gold shields. When promotion opportunities were reduced in the early seventies, the Detectives Endowment Association demanded, and won, cash overtime. Paid overtime was limited to 100 hours. Anything above the ceiling could be taken as time off. With the fiscal crisis, city officials push to hold down overtime costs and detectives resist working extra hours unless they’re paid overtime. One result: solved homicide cases have slipped dramatically.
Police and firemen who donate blood are given a bonus day off. Thus charity is rewarded—4,938 days’ worth to police in 1977. “No one should get those days off,” says city Director of Labor Relations Anthony Russo. “They’re men with good constitutions. Civilians don’t get them.”
Uniformed employees—including police, fire, corrections officers, Transit and Housing police—are granted one personal leave day each year “for whatever reason.” Sanitation men agreed to temporarily sacrifice this privilege during the fiscal crisis. In urging repeal of this contract provision, the Koch administration calculated the city could save $2.4 million annually, adding 45,000 workdays.
Police or firemen who are veterans and whose chart requires them to work on Veterans or Memorial Day, must receive compensatory time off, according to state law.
Election Day is declared a special paid holiday, though state law requires only that voting not be hindered. Since voting hours are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., there is no conflict with the workday. In proposing to eliminate this holiday from employee contracts, the Koch administration estimated the city would save $5 million.
All uniformed employees are allowed unlimited non-line-of-duty sick leave. In the last 6 months of 1977, police averaged 16.5 sick days—about 1,000 cops out sick each day. Sanitation men averaged 14 sick days. This permissive policy contrasts with that of the Soviet Union, which rigidly monitors sick leave, or with Teamster workers in the private carting industry who aren’t paid if they’re out sick. The city’s sick leave policy can lead to abuse. “They have a buddy system,” explains Commissioner Russo. “ ‘Say, Joe, you take tomorrow off, and I’ll get time and a half to take your place.’ You see, the guy who takes Joe’s place has to be paid time and a half. Then the next time they reverse, and Joe gets time and a half.” In proposing to replace unlimited with 12 sick days annually, the Koch administration calculated a savings of $3.4 million over 2 years. If workers were not paid for the first half-day out sick, as is customary in private industry, Koch said the city would save $13 million over 2 years.
All other city employees receive 10 to 20 sick days, and are allowed to accumulate these from year to year. Sick days, which were designed to ensure that workers would not be penalized for legitimate illnesses, thus become additional vacation days. When the worker leaves government, he or she is paid on the basis of 1 day’s pay for every 2 sick days not taken, up to a maximum of 120 days. Unlike many city workers, teachers aren’t required to submit even a friendly doctor’s note. They have what is called “10 self-treated days.” Instead