Public Employee Press
DC 37 speaks out at City Council Workers’ Comp hearing
On Dec. 13, DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. Director Guille Mejia testified before a hearing of the New York City Council’s Civil Service and Labor Committee.
The hearing was held in response to the annual report issued by the city’s Law Department on Workers’ Compensation claims by city workers.
John Sweeney, chief of the Workers’ Compensation Division at the Law Department, defended the report, telling the committee that the city has taken on more than 16,500 new compensation claims last year, and had paid out more than $300 million in wage replacement and medical payments to non-uniform public workers, including many DC 37 members.
The Civil Service and Labor Committee’s Chair, Council Member I. Daneek Miller, questioned Sweeney closely during the hearing, and said, “When you have conversations with agencies, you should also have a conversation with the bargaining units that represent those workers.”
Following Sweeney’s testimony, Mejia also took issue with the rosy picture painted by the city, calling on the City Council members to find ways for the city to improve its data gathering and also urging city agencies to analyze submitted Workers’ Comp claims to reduce injury rates, and to create programs that provide city workers with the tools necessary to carry out their duties safely.
Mejia was critical of the report, citing its lack of comprehensive detail.
“The report does not give us a hint about the civil service titles of injured workers, the causes or circumstances of the injuries, the number of days workers are out as result of the injury and the head count of an agency’s workforce,” Mejia said. “Aside from the format, the report is not readily available.”
In the Law Department’s report, the amount paid in Workers’ Compensation claims increased 8.4 percent from 2014 to 2015. In her testimony before the committee, Mejia said she believed that these numbers might be higher, citing that underreporting of workplace injuries is the norm.
Mejia called on city agencies to encourage reporting and documenting workplace accidents.
“We must get a clearer picture of the costs workers incur when hurt on the job, and have a basis to further investigate worksites that have high rates of incidents,” Mejia said.
Nadia Marin-Molina, associate director at the New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health (NYCOSH), also testified at the hearing.
