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| Injured jail officers win lawsuit against county |
| By The Journal News |
| Published: 04/12/2004 |
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Rockland County, New York, will compensate two jail officers who sued the county Sheriff's Department when they received no injury benefits after being hurt on the job. State Supreme Court Justice William E. Sherwood ruled last Thursday that the Sheriff's Department must restore injury benefits to Correction Officer Zane Arok, who was hurt during a self-defense course on Feb. 18, 2001. The department settled with Correction Officer Maureen Cawley, who was hurt on March 18, 2003, while trying to control an unruly prisoner. Both Arok and Cawley, who are Sheriff's Department employees, have returned to work. William Hickey, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association of Rockland County, called the decision a victory for all Rockland jail officers. "They refused to give these two veteran officers the benefits which they were clearly entitled to," he said in a written statement. Arok and Cawley filed a joint suit in August 2003 to get Section 207-c benefits, which cover municipal employees with dangerous jobs. Arok was hurt participating in a required course called defensive tactics and training, which teaches officers how to handle disruptive prisoners. The suit said the Sheriff's Department arbitrarily denied Arok and Cawley benefits. "Ms. Cawley's case was a textbook example of why Section 207-c benefits were created in the first place," said lawyer Joey Jackson of the New York firm Koehler & Issacs LLP, who represented both officers. Jackson declined to say how much Arok and Cawley would receive in back pay or other benefits. William J. Clark, chief of corrections for Rockland County, said the department withheld the benefits based on a prior court decision that said 207-c benefits were for officers injured performing above and beyond their regular duties. That decision has since been overturned, Clark said. "We believed we were right at the time," he said. Clark was unsure if the department was going to appeal but said the department has contacted its insurance carrier to pay Arok and Cawley. |
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