Security Officers Say US Marshals Failed To Pay Lost Wages
New York NY Feb 20, 2022
The U.S. Marshals Service failed to compensate 10 lead court security officers for wages and paid time off they lost during the coronavirus pandemic, while granting such payments to other officers, the group alleges in a lawsuit filed Friday in New York federal court.
The lead court security officers and the union representing them, U.S. Court Security Officers, say the U.S. Marshals denied the group compensation for the hours they did not work as officers while courts in New York closed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, even though other court officers were reimbursed.
“As a result of the defendant’s unlawful conduct, the individual plaintiffs have suffered economic damages in the form of lost wages and/or loss of accrued paid time off,” the group says in its complaint.
The lead court security officers, who work at federal courts in New York and at the U.S. Court of International Trade, say they lost wages and accrued paid time off when the U.S. Marshals cut their hours as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.
In January 2021, federal contractor Centerra Group announced it had secured approval from the U.S. Marshals to pay employees for lost wages and paid time off through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the lead court security officers say.
In the following month, USCSO discovered that Centerra distributed compensation to a number of court security officers in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York who had lost wages between March 29, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020, but not to the 10 lead court security officers, according to the complaint.
When the union asked the U.S. Marshals how the funds were being allocated, the agency said the information could be requested through a Freedom of Information Act request, which remains pending, the union says.
The union also asked Centerra to clarify how the funds were being allocated, but the contractor refused to provide the information, according to the complaint.
Centerra is not a named defendant in the suit.
The lead court security officers are seeking to recover the loss of wages and paid time off they accrued between March 29, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2020; attorney fees and costs; and an order directing the U.S. Marshals Service to make all requested records available to the union.
Kate M. Swearengen of Cohen Weiss and Simon LLP, who is representing the officers and the union, said Friday: “These men and women provide an essential service for the federal court to keep the courts safe, and they should have received some of this compensation from the government.”
The U.S. Marshals Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The officers and the union are represented by Kate M. Swearengen and Matthew E. Stolz of Cohen Weiss and Simon LLP.
Counsel information for the U.S. Marshals was not available Friday.
The case is U.S. Court Security Officers et al. v. U.S. Marshals Service, case number 1:22-cv-01380, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
