#NY court officers’ union sues for failing to protect members from COVID-19

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Dennis Quirk, president of New York State Court Officers Association
Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro

The New York court officers’ union has sued the state office that runs the court system, alleging it has failed to keep members safe from the coronavirus.

Dennis Quirk, president of the New York State Court Officers Association, claimed in the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court late Wednesday that the Office of Court Administration hasn’t properly cleaned spaces or provided personal-protective equipment to officers.

“As a result…union members have been, and continue to be, exposed to COVID-19 and have in fact contracted coronavirus and have died as result of said failure,” reads the civil complaint, which also names Chief Judge Janet DiFiore as a defendant.

Three union members — a court officer in Brooklyn, and two court assistants — have died due to the virus while more than 100 more court officers have fallen ill, according to Quirk.

“It’s spread out over every courthouse in the city,” Quirk said.

The union has been providing members with facemasks and purchasing hand sanitizer from a local distillery that rebottles and distributes it to courthouses, Quirk said.

OCA hasn’t provided any hand sanitizer and has only offered court officers disposable surgical masks that they’re advised to keep for a week, according to Quirk.

The longtime union head also said court officials have conspired to “silence” him with disciplinary actions as he has for months criticized what he’s described as inadequate efforts to keep court officers safe during the pandemic.

Quirk accused the OCA of conspiring to oust him from his position by leaking to The Post an inflammatory email in which three black court officers accused him of fostering “racial inequality and brutality” among court officers.

“They had it in for me,” he said.

Quirk’s suit seeks more than $3 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

“There’s not cleanings; there’s no sanitizer. We want our people to be safe and our public to be safe,” he said.

“This virus is a terrible thing…we should be cleaning the buildings properly and we should have hand sanitizer in the buildings — not just for the officers but for the public to stay safe too.”

The OCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.