MTA cut worker sick leave cash out program, affecting thousands eyeing retirement

In the middle of bargaining for a new contract covering 40,000 transit workers, the MTA terminated an agreement that allowed longtime employees who've used more than half of their sick days to receive a lump-sum payment upon retirement, leaving thousands of workers close to hanging up their gloves potentially out tens of thousands of dollars.  

The MTA notified Transport Workers Union Local 100 in an August letter that it was unilaterally ending the Career Sick Leave Cash Out program in place since 2017.

The program allowed any transit employee with fewer than 50 percent of their sick days remaining to cash them out upon retirement. Since the cancellation, only workers who held onto more than half of their sick days are able cash them out upon retirement.  

The MTA made the move unilaterally even though it had proposed bargaining with Local 100 over the program in its original contract demands, according to a copy of those demands that were submitted to the union on April 29. Contract negotiations are ongoing, but John Chiarello, the president of Local 100, did not clarify in a response to questions from The Chief if the two sides are close to a new agreement on sick leave cash out.  

The MTA originally sought the policy change as a means to improve attendance, especially among bus operators, and the union agreed because it wanted to expand cash out opportunities for workers, said J.P. Patafio, a bus operator and former Local 100 vice president who helped negotiate the original deal. 

MTA officials argue that the text of the pilot agreement gives them the authority to cancel it at any time if worker attendance did not improve.  

“This was a pilot program aimed at improving employee availability numbers that have declined in recent years," MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick said in a statement.  "Availability of employees has not improved and the pilot program has expired.”    

Part of an MTA pattern 

The original agreement over sick leave cash out lasted until mid-2019 but was extended several times including with a 2023 agreement that waived the MTA's right to unilaterally cancel the agreement, the union argued in response to the August cancelation. 

Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer for Local 100, said that the pilot program cancellation is part of a larger pattern of the MTA making unilateral moves without the consent of the union during ongoing, contentious negotiations. 

"There's a big move on their part to just decide they can change things without negotiating with the union," he said. "It's aggravating. And this was a big one."   

Shortly after receiving the August letter from management, Local 100 filed a grievance and requested an injunction with the state Public Employment Relations Board to block the policy revocation. PERB rejected that request, and the two sides are now in arbitration over the issue, union officials said.  

But the issue could also be resolved through an agreement reached in bargaining. Chiarello said in a text that the two sides remain in negotiations over the issue. 

Bargaining ongoing 

Attendance was the top item listed in the MTA's April 29 opening proposals of its contract demands, a copy of which were shared with The Chief. According to the MTA, New York City Transit employees call out sick an average of 18 days a year and vehicle operator and conductor absences cause 269,000 delayed or canceled trips that affect 105 million transit rides and result in over $150 million overtime. 

Schwartz said that many MTA employees are out on long-terms sick leave, which skews the figures that the MTA presents.  

Along with reforming attendance through sick leave reform, the MTA has put forward shifting more healthcare costs onto workers as a key demand in contract negotiations. The MTA proposed raising worker healthcare contributions to 12 percent, from the current 2 percent, in its original demands, and proposed increasing individual co-pays to $150 each.  

Chiarello told The Chief in September that the MTA had eventually decreased its demand to 4 percent. The dispute over healthcare has been the single largest sticking point between the two sides in negotiations, union sources say.

'The union is not being transparent'

Patafio, nearing retirement age himself, said that the cancellation of the sick leave cash out pilot program will likely worsen the MTA's absentee issue, especially among bus operators, who now have less reason to bank their sick days.  

"Now transit workers are going to have to dwindle down their sick days before they retire," he said.  

Patafio and two other bus operators said the union did not inform the rank and file when the cash out program was repealed by the MTA.

"The union is not being transparent," said one of the bus drivers, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation. "I feel sorry for the people who actually retired after the August 13th date that didn’t know about it."

Patafio agreed. "This was done in the dark," he said.