Judge Orders City Must Pay Worker For Cancer Screening

ALBANY, NY (07/29/2008)(readMedia)-- A Saratoga County Supreme Court Judge has ordered the City of Saratoga Springs to restore two hours sick leave to a City Hall employee who was forced to use her leave accruals when she took time off during the workday for breast cancer screening.

The workers’ union, CSEA, filed a lawsuit claiming the city violated state Civil Service law by refusing to pay the employee for the time she spent getting the mammogram. The law, which has applied to New York state employees since 2002, was amended in 2007 to include municipal and school district employees.

The law (Civil Service Law Section 159-b) states that employees are entitled to up to four hours leave annually to have a mammogram or prostate cancer screening without charge to any other leave to which they are otherwise entitled.

The city argued that although the law required employers to allow the time off, it did not require them to pay the employees.

In a decision dated July 24, 2008, Justice Thomas D. Nolan, Jr., ordered the city to restore the worker’s leave credits, stating, “The sensible and practical construction of Section 159-b is that the Legislature intended, not only that annual leave would be excused and not be charged against any other leave, but also, that it would be a paid leave.”

CSEA President Danny Donohue agreed that the spirit of the law is clear.

“It encourages workers, who may not do so otherwise, to undergo these lifesaving tests for cancers that are highly treatable if caught in time,” Donohue said. “It’s really a bargain when you consider the long-term costs of managing these diseases if they are not caught early. The potential savings in lost workdays and health care costs for protracted hospital stays, surgery and other avoidable procedures is well worth the investment of a few hours of an employee’s time.”

Governor David Paterson recently signed into law CSEA-backed legislation to clarify that school district, and other local government workers, including those employed by public benefit corporations, be granted time off with no charge to their accruals for mammograms and prostate cancer tests.

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