Dear COBA Members/Retirees;

Today, May 13th, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan issued a decision in the lawsuit brought by COBA and all other Nassau County unions' challenging NIFA's imposition of a wage freeze in 2011.  Unfortunately, the Appeals Court upheld the lower court's dismissal of the lawsuit and unanimously ruled that the 2011 wage freeze was legal and not in violation of the United States Constitution's Contract Clause.  The court ruled that the wage freeze was consistent with the Contracts Clause because the wage freeze was within NIFA's statutory authority and, in light of a very real financial crisis, was reasonable and necessary to alleviate that crisis and among other things avoided layoffs and/or furloughs.  

The Court ruled that the crisis was not as the unions claimed, a "paper" crisis but was a very real financial crisis. The court added that NIFA's options were separate from the County's options, which limited NIFA's scope. The wage freeze was a NIFA-specific option supported and requested by then County Executive Ed Mangano, and that NIFA could not force the County to adopt any other particular revenue or tax plans. Within the limited range of options available to it, and even noting that the County brought much of the financial crisis upon themselves, the court held that the wage freeze was reasonable.  

What now?

This may very well be the proverbial last nail in the coffin of the NIFA Lawsuit. COBA has been in conference most of the day with our attorneys over this and I have spoken briefly to the Presidents of the other Nassau Unions who are all in conference with their respective attorneys.

I have directed our attorneys to prepare for a presentation to the United States Supreme Court, which is the only avenue left to us.

There are several hurdles in proposing a case to the Supreme Court, the biggest of which is the very real possibility that the Supreme Court simply refuses to hear the case. In that event, this would be the end of this very long road.

We are all in the process of digesting this decision. I plan to meet with the other Unions sometime next week after we've all had a chance to go over our options.

I will keep you informed on any and all issues related to this matter as we move forward in the best interest of all COBA Members.  

In Unity;

Brian Sullivan, COBA President