Statement from COBA President Elias Husamudeen Below:
“As soon as we suffered the first death in our membership from COVID-19, which was the tragic passing of Correction Officer Quinsey Simpson, we immediately reached out to our friends in the NYC Council, like Council Member Joseph Borelli, and lobbied to ensure Correction Officers would be entitled to Line of Duty Death Benefits related to COVID-19.
Council Member Borelli spearheaded our fight to include Correction Officers and other essential frontline workers in any Line of Duty Benefits related to COVID-19. Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that all city employees, including our members, will be entitled to a three quarters Line of Duty Disability Pension. I thank COBA Legislative Chairman Freddy Fusco for working vigorously with Council Member Borelli and other elected officials to help make this happen. I also want to thank Council Member Borelli for his tireless advocacy for New York City Correction Officers and their families.”
Elias Husamudeen
COBA President
Archive News
With New York City’s jail population at its lowest level since 1949, you might expect guarding the inmates on Rikers Island to be easier than ever.
Nearly 1,000 people have been released from city jails in under three weeks to curb the spread of coronavirus — but the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in local facilities on Thursday continued to climb.
The head of the city Correction Officers’ union March 31 slammed the Department of Correction for failing to provide protective equipment and supplies to his members as the coronavirus threatens to besiege correctional facilities.
