Mount Vernon Saves Tax Payers Millions in a Sick Leave Law Suit

MOUNT VERNON – The state Supreme Court has dismissed a police-sick-time lawsuit that could have cost taxpayers millions of dollars

On Monday the Hon. Joan B. Lefkowitz accepted Mayor Richard Thomas’ and City of Mount Vernon’s request that she end the case in the City’s favor.

The 2016 lawsuit was filed by eight retired police officers and their union, who all alleged that the city owed the retirees compensation for unused sick time.

“The record demonstrates that the (union contract) does not explicitly provide that a retiring officer shall be paid for all unused sick leave,” Lefkowitz wrote in her decision. “No retiring officers, other than plaintiffs here, have ever interpreted the ‘all accrued time’ clause in the (union contract) to include all unused sick leave.”

Mayor Thomas hailed the decision as a victory for the City’s taxpayers.

“A select handful of retirees engaged in bullying behavior and sought to intimidate me into giving them this big payout that was never done in the history of the department,” said Mayor Thomas. “This group sought to spread lies, defame and impugn my character and disparage the city in an attempt to get paid off. Despite the attacks, I stood up, taking hits for the taxpayer and we won!”

While the eight plaintiffs sought compensation that totaled more than $450,000, if the City had lost the case the repercussions would have been more expensive, according to a legal brief filed by the City’s attorneys in the case.

“The liability would not end there. The unit at issue has over 200 members,” stated the City’s legal filing with the court. “The liability to all future retirees for every day of unused leave would be financially devastating and something that the PBA and the City never bargained for or intended.”