Corrections officers Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

A Queens County judge denied New York City corrections officers' request for a temporary restraining order Friday, after city lawyers argued that Mayor Bill de Blasio's public promise to end 24-hour shifts for officers rendered the unions' application moot.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, unions representing corrections officers and their supervisors argued that 24-hour "triple shifts" are dangerous for officers, particularly amid the coronavirus pandemic. They also called for the city to require officers to obtain negative COVID-19 tests before they return to work from sick leave.

Steven Isaacs of Koehler & Isaacs, who is representing one of the three corrections unions involved in the action, said the unions are exploring their options for appeal and for a preliminary injunction.

Nearly 600 staff members have become sick with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and nine have died, according to the complaint, which has been assigned to Queens County Supreme Court Justice Pam Jackman Brown.

"The inability to sleep for a solid day as is the case with triple shifts is a direct invitation to infection and disease," lawyers representing the unions wrote. "In the age of COVID-19, triple shifts may be a death sentence."

De Blasio responded to the complaint with a tweet soon after Politico broke the news of the filing Thursday, telling corrections officers that the 24-hour shifts were a mistake and "this will never happen again."

In a press conference Friday, de Blasio was also asked about the testing policy, and he said the corrections officers are being held to the same standard as other city employees.

"The test is not the only way to know if someone's well enough to come back," de Blasio said. "So, we're going to stick with the standard that we've been using. When we go forward into the test-and-trace phase, of course, there'll be so much more testing around in general. That will be a different reality."

In their TRO application, the unions' lawyers suggested that officers who are serving modified duty for reasons unrelated to inmate care move back onto regular duty to ameliorate staffing issues.

"Literally every moment uniformed staff spend at work entails an ongoing terror that the illness will be contracted or carried to loved ones," the lawyers wrote. "This terror, and the attendant illness, is simply not reparable by damages."

Devin Cohen, assistant corporation counsel for the New York City Law Department's Labor and Employment Law Division, argued in his opposition to the TRO application that the Department of Correction has tried to keep triple shifts to a minimum and has offered breaks to officers who do work them.

As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, Isaacs said corrections officers had not received a written directive from the Department of Correction reflecting de Blasio's promise that triple shifts would end.

The suit was filed by Koehler & Isaacs, Pitta LLP and Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman, which are representing, respectively, the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, the Correction Captains' Association, and the Assistant Deputy Wardens and Deputy Wardens Association.

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