Pursuant to the MLC v. City to which the DEA was a party/petitioner, the NYC Board of Collective Bargaining (“Board”) ordered the City to negotiate with the DEA regarding mandatory subjects of bargaining related to the impact of its improper, unilateral institution of the Vaccine Mandate. On December 8, 2023, there was a bargaining session involving the DEA, the NYPD, and the Office of Labor Relations (“OLR”) where we discussed the hardships caused by the imposition of Leave Without Pay (“LWOP”) status on those DEA members who were non-compliant with the Vaccine Mandate, and the goal of the DEA to make our members “whole” with respect to annuity, vacation, longevity, uniform allowance, and pension credits. Based upon our records, we have 22 members who are affected by this. On March 22, 2024, the DEA met again with the City to continue our Board-ordered negotiations with them, but at this meeting the City was unwilling to respond substantively to the various demands made by the Union. Accordingly, on April 16, 2024, the DEA filed a Declaration of Impasse with the Board signifying that any further negotiations between the City and Union would be fruitless and that the Board should send the instant matter to interest arbitration, so that a mutually-selected, third-party Arbitrator could resolve this dispute. Moreover, the City has acknowledged its Board-ordered obligation to bargain with the DEA regarding these issues and the possibility that the instant matter may culminate in interest arbitration.
Since the filing of the Declaration of Impasse, the Union has participated in several conferences with the Board and OLR in order to refine the scope of its demands/proposals and to exchange relevant documents in connection with the practical impact the unilateral implementation of the Vaccine Mandate had on the DEA membership. In addition, the Board has attempted to mediate the dispute between the City and DEA in the hopes that interest arbitration can be avoided. Most recently, the Board, OLR, and the DEA spoke on October 29, 2024 to discuss the documents and data the Union received from the City’s and NYPD’s Payroll system(s), as ordered by the Board. The parties are now in the process of scheduling an informal mediation session, to further focus the conciliation efforts and, if needed, to narrow the scope of the issues that would be presented during the arbitration process. We will continue to keep you posted regarding any new developments. In the meantime, if you are or if you know someone who was placed in LWOP status as a result of the Vaccine Mandate, please contact the Union or counsel to ensure that the Union has the most accurate register of DEA members who were adversely affected by the unilateral imposition of said mandate.
