Relates to death benefits for members of the uniformed force of the New York city department of sanitation and members of the uniformed force of the New York…

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Robert Jackson says this is needed

The officers who patrol New York City's prisons have one of the most dangerous professions in the state, facing regular instances of assault from inmates or the visiting public. The number of assaults on corrections officers statewide jumped from 556 in 2007 to 760 in 2016. The officers who patrol our streets, collecting garbage, removing snow, and keeping the streets clean face a different set of dangers. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that sanitation workers have the fifth highest fatal work injury rate among civilian occupations in 2016, nearly ten times higher than workers in all other industries. Garbage and refuse collectors handle materials such as broken glass, tree limbs, and biological waste that could infect, poison or injure them. They are forced to work long hours in grueling temperatures and are prone to sprains, strains, and overextension injuries as they handle heavy loads without breaks. They can easily lose a hand from a hopper door slamming down or get hit with flying debris. Many corrections and sanitation workers seek to retire with a wellfought public pension once they reach retirement age and are fully vested, rightfully predicting that the longer they stay in their jobs, the more likely they will someday become the victim of an assault or accident that seriously injures or kills them. There is thus insufficient incentive to continue reporting to a job that presents great risk and little reward for each additional year served. Yet at the same time, the City of New York would benefit greatly from keeping these seasoned public servants around to teach younger generations. This bill aims to correct this predicament and offer justice to surviving families by enhancing the death benefits for deceased corrections officers. Currently, in the majority of cases the families of pension eligible corrections and sanitation officers who die before they take retirement receive a death benefit of three times the officer's final year earnings raised to the next highest multiple of $1,000. This lump sum payment leaves many surviving families in the lurch as it provides for only three years worth of lost wages. This bill would allow these families the option of receiving either (A) the tradi- tional death benefit of three times final average salary; or (B) the full amount of the pension the officer earned and would have received if still alive. This change will both give seasoned, valuable officers more of an incentive to stay and provid e their families a much-needed finan- cial cushion in the event of their premature death.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.