City Hall (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo)
The courageous women who stepped forward to share their stories of alleged sexual misconduct by Governor Andrew Cuomo pointed to one of the worst-kept secrets of New York government: a toxic work environment is more of a status-quo than an exception to the rule.
Their telling of their experiences has also revealed systemic flaws in the reporting and investigation process against elected and appointed officials. Initially, the governor twice tried to appoint his own investigators instead of allowing the Attorney General to conduct her own investigation — which she needed to obtain a referral letter from the governor’s office itself to begin in the first place. Even though Attorney General Letitia James finally received the referral, and the investigation is underway, the governor’s office is now conducting its own separate investigation, and trying to send its own lawyers into interviews with staff.
New York State needs a new, independent, victim-centered process for addressing harassment claims against elected officials, as the Sexual Harassment Working Group has long demanded.
But harassment, toxic workplace culture, opaque reporting systems, and compromised investigations aren’t unique to New York state government. New York City’s system is also set up to protect abusers.
The City’s Human Rights Law provides strong protections against discrimination based on gender, including sexual harassment. But City Council members, like former Council member and repeat abuser Andy King, are supposed to be held accountable by their colleagues.
Complaints from City Council staff or constituents are referred to the Council’s own Standard and Ethics Committee, made up of five Council members appointed by the Speaker. They decide if there will be an investigation, who will conduct the investigation, and on what timeline, and what sanctions to recommend to the full Council. That’s no one’s definition of independent. It’s even less clear what would happen with allegations against the Mayor or any mayoral appointees, the Comptroller, the Public Advocate, or the Borough Presidents.
We need a complete overhaul of our current investigation and accountability process; it shouldn’t have taken us this long, but with a major transition about to take place in our city’s elected representation, now is a critical time to do so.
First, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson must release the $200,000 internal report he commissioned through Redwood Enterprise. Redwood conducted interviews with members and staff funded by taxpayer dollars, but Speaker Johnson has refused to release the Redwood report despite repeated requests, including a letter this week organized by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.
Second, as called for by the Sexual Harassment Working Group in the wake of the repeated abuses by Andy King, the City Council should hold public hearings on workplace protections and collaborative solutions to safeguard Council workers from retaliation and harassment from elected officials.
Back in 2017, the Council held hearings on sexual harassment, but did not focus solely on harassment within city government itself. We know how impactful these hearings can be; the Working Group’s testimony at the state’s public hearing in February 2019 led to some of the most significant reforms in a generation.
A public hearing will help inform the creation of a new, transparent, independent process for investigating and recommending sanctions for harassment by elected and appointed New York City government officials.
One idea would be to amend the authority of the Commissioner of the Department of Investigations to appoint a Special Inspector General, who would have full subpoena power outside the line-of-authority to the mayor, to conduct these investigations of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. In the case of an elected official, the Special Inspector General would make a public recommendation -- up to and including expulsion -- to the City Council, which would be required to vote up or down on the recommendation. In the case of an appointed official, such as a commissioner, the Special Inspector General would make a public recommendation to the mayor. Alternatively, the City’s Commission on Human Rights has a division that investigates sexual harassment complaints, but would need expanded authority to handle complaints against elected officials and their staff members and appointees.
What’s critical is that new systems be developed in close consultation with those who were directly harmed, as well as the unions who represent them -- including the new staff union organizing in the City Council.
Every office that represents some or all >of New York City has a role to play in protection staff. That’s why, if elected as the next New York City Comptroller, Brad commits to working with advocates and experts to create and disseminate an anonymous climate survey within the comptroller’s office within his first 100 days in office, the results of which would be made public and used to inform any changes that are implemented. The comptroller’s office would then make gender equity audits a regular practice across all other city agencies as well.
Sexual harassment is an abuse of power; any accountability system must be designed to provide trust, confidence, and integrity for staff who have felt the power of government officials weaponized against them.
Unfortunately, the protection and safety of staff members has taken a backseat for far too long. We cannot wait until the next time the system fails one of them to bring about meaningful reform.
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Brad Lander is a Brooklyn City Council member and candidate for New York City Comptroller. Erica Vladimer is a gender justice and workplace protections advocate, and former government staffer. On Twitter @BradLander & @EricaForNY.
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Covid care training (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
Just over 110 years ago, on March 25,1911, workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan’s Garment District began their day just like any other.
For 146 of them, it ended in tragedy when a fire engulfed the factory, leading to their deaths. When the fire started many of them were unable to leave the factory because there were no fire escapes and the building exits were locked. Some died jumping from the building in an attempt to escape. The youngest victims were only 14 years old.
Out of the wreckage of this horrific tragedy a new wave of labor organizations emerged and, thanks to their advocacy, safety rules and regulations were created, paving the way for the modern system of worker protection.
Though we have obviously made tremendous progress over the past century, there is more work to be done — something that was made abundantly clear by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past year we saw that many corporations simply did not care about the health and safety of their workers. Powerful corporations kept their doors open without the proper health and safety protocols, despite a clear danger to employees. Many did ever >ything possible to avoid accountability. In New York City, Amazon allegedly put its workers in harm's way and attempted to squash complaints about safety procedures.
One key lesson from the pandemic and four years of the Trump administration is that states like New York must have their own robust system of worker protections.
As complaints flooded in from workers, OSHA completely fell down on the job. The fines that the world’s largest companies received were a pittance, and the agency had the fewest number of inspectors in decades. When that happens, the fallback is state and local agencies.
It was a relief to see President Joe Biden’s executive order on worker safety earlier this year, which requires OSHA to review its standards and update safety recommendations for businesses, among other steps. Just last week, OSHA announced further steps to protect workers at a high risk of infection.
But there is an important role for New York State to play. It doesn’t matter to workers whether it’s state or federal inspectors who are protecting them. Furthermore, strong state laws go hand in hand with federal enforcement, as evidenced by Biden’s executive order, which includes provisions that focus on partnering and consulting with state and local governments.
New York took an important step forward after the State Senate recently passed legislation allowing the Department of Labor to mandate safety protocols in workplaces, such as requiring PPE and social distancing measures. This bill should be enacted into law, and we must ensure the labor commissioner issues timely, stringent, clear, and enforceable rules that will protect all workers across the state.
We need to empower our regulatory agencies to do what they’re designed to do and keep workers here in New York and across the country safe. We have a legal and moral responsibility to protect American families both at home and on the job.
New York has suffered once unimaginable tragedies over the past year, like it did 110 years ago. We must do everything we can to turn this moment of pain and loss into progress for working men and women, just like workers and others did when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory burned. We cannot wait for the next deadly moment to act.
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Jessica Ramos represents New York’s 13th District in the New York State Senate and is Chair of the Committee on Labor. Edward Steinberg is President of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. On Twitter @JessicaRamos & @EdwardSteinber1 of @NYSTLA.
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Seeking treatment (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)
Gloria thought she was in good health and was managing her diabetes well. Then the unthinkable happened – she was hospitalized for 10 months due to COVID-19. Gloria suffered severe effects from the virus and had to be intubated, after which she was left paralyzed. Now Gloria needs ongoing nursing care and physical therapy to regain mobility and work on her speech.
Gloria is originally from Colombia and now lives in New York City – due to her immigration status, she is not able to receive Medicaid or other state-funded health care to cover her medical needs. For nearly 400,000 immigrants who are uninsured in New York, this is their reality.
We’ve been battling COVID-19 for more than a year now. Immigrants remain at the forefront of this battle, and yet continue to be excluded from necessary and comprehensive health-care coverage. Accessible health care has always been a necessity, but as we continue to learn about the long-term effects of COVID-19 infections and the required follow-up care, New York State leaders must immediately provide health-care coverage to those impacted by the virus and ensure health care is accessible to all.
This means taking one key step in the state budget that is being negotiated right now by the State Legislature and Governor Cuomo and due by the April 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Immigrants have always kept our city running, and this became especially true when only essential businesses were open during the height of the coronavirus crisis. Immigrants make up one-third of essential workers in New York State, with 70% of people who are undocumented in the labor force working in essential businesses and putting their own health at risk. The resulting ongoing exposure has no doubt contributed to the disproportionate impact of the virus on immigrant communities in New York.
However, exposure is not the only issue. Access to health care has been proven to improve one’s overall >health, which may reduce the risk of serious COVID-19 complications. Yet many New Yorkers like Gloria continue to be blocked from necessary coverage or are deterred from accessing care by confusing and draconian immigration and enforcement policies. A recent study showed that “nationally roughly 1 out of every 3 COVID-19 deaths are linked to health insurance gaps” and that “more than 40% of all COVID-19 infections are associated with health insurance gaps.”
COVID-19 testing and immediate treatment is available to everyone in New York through Emergency Medicaid, but that doesn’t help Gloria and the thousands like her to receive the ongoing care they need after devastating covid infections. Emergency Medicaid is only meant to provide coverage for immediate medical treatment of acute symptoms in often life-threatening circumstances. It does not cover all medically-necessary services or ongoing care, even if that lack of coverage has fatal consequences for the patient. New York explicitly excludes nursing facilities from coverage, like the ones needed by Gloria to recover from this devastating virus.
After 10 months in the hospital, Gloria’s husband, Marco, found a way to pay out of pocket to transfer her to a nursing home for necessary ongoing treatment and care. He does not know how long he can maintain these payments, or if the facility he can afford is really providing competent care for his wife. Gloria has been at the nursing home since January and has been readmitted to the hospital at least twice because of bacterial infections. Marco wants her moved to another nursing home, but has no way of doing that.
Insurance coverage and health-care access are huge problems for COVID-19 patients, as the long-term effects of the virus are far-reaching and not yet fully understood. The virus may affect a person’s heart, kidneys, lungs, brain and other organs. Other people survive the virus without any specific injury to an organ, but are called “long-haulers” because of chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, inability to concentrate, and other symptoms. Some studies find more than 50% of people “recovered” from COVID-19 affected by these symptoms three months later.
For many years, activists and public health experts have advocated for universal health care. A year into a global pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 Americans, some states are at least proposing ways to mitigate the effects of the public health and health-care crises. Bills now pending in the New York State Legislature propose broad change as well as temporary solutions to expand the state’s Essential Plan during this health crisis and provide health-care coverage to anyone who has survived COVID-19 but is excluded from coverage because of their immigration status.
While this proposed Essential Plan expansion would be temporary, and not nearly enough, it is urgently necessary to meet the immediate and urgent needs of thousands of New Yorkers who, like Gloria, have been shattered by this virus. New York leaders should pass it immediately; in the new state budget if needed.
The ongoing public health crisis has further illuminated the need for universal health coverage in New York. Accessible and comprehensive healthcare should be guaranteed to every state resident regardless of immigration status, age, disability or employment status. While we work towards a thorough solution to our broken healthcare system, right now the New York Legislature must support expanding the Essential Plan. We are living through an emergency, and we must at least provide a lifeboat.
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Amber Khan is Director of the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. On Twitter @NYLPI.
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