In December of 2019, the Union received a winning Arbitration Award concerning the approval of 207-c benefits. This Arbitration Award was a great win for our membership! To recap, the County/Department had previously denied 207-c benefit applications for COBA Members in cases where Officers were injured in the performance of their duties, then immediately sought treatment (while on duty) but did not miss any additional time from work after seeking that initial treatment.

In this particular Class Action Grievance, the Arbitrator ruled that the County/Department violated Attachment "B" of our contract when they denied seven COBA members 207-c benefits when they missed no additional work time after receiving medical treatment on the day of their illness or injury.

In that decision, the Arbitrator instructed the County/Department to cease and desist from denying COBA members 207-c benefits for solely because the member did not miss additional work time as a result of the injury sustained in the performance of their duties. After that Award was received, the Department refused to abide by the arbitrator's decision and continued to deny those initially affected COBA Members 207-c benefits. They also continued to deny subsequent COBA members 207-c benefits and who had been in similar situations.

In March the County/Department petitioned (appealed) to the Supreme Court in an attempt to vacate the Arbitrator's Award. The Union immediately combated this action by petitioning the court to confirm the Arbitrator's Award. On August 11, 2020, the Supreme Court issued their ruling, denying the County/Department's attempt to vacate the award and ruled in favor of the Union, confirming the Arbitrator's Award.

Although the County/Department has 6 months to appeal the Supreme Court Judge's decision to the New York State Court of Appeals, the Union firmly believes that an action such as this would be a waste of time and taxpayer money and we have made this point implicitly clear to them.

This is a great win for COBA Members as we continue to advocate on your behalf and protect your hard earned benefits.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me in the Union Office.

Dennis Maurus,

COBA 4th VP