BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Four former New York State Corrections officers are suing Governor Kathy Hochul and Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III, after firing thousands of corrections officers in 2025.
Those firings came as some corrections officers participated in an illegal wildcat strike.
The officers were on strike over what they claimed were unsafe working conditions inside state prisons. They demanded significant changes, including an end to grueling 24-hour shifts and greater protection against inmate violence.
The wildcat strike started at Collins following a lockdown at the facility where officers say their lives were in danger.
But DOCCS, according to the lawsuit, "instructed every facility in the State to treat every absence as strike participation." Even those who say they were on family medical leave say they were treated as part of the strike.
Lawyers write, "When a payroll examiner at Groveland Correctional Facility objected that "over 50%" of the officers on her list had FMLA documentation and asked, "You want me to put officers out on leave without pay while they have FMLA documentation?", the facility's Acting Deputy Superintendent answered: "Yes. That's the direction given."
Caine Luther, a corrections officer for more than ten years, says he was deemed "resigned effective" but was never "called to sign a Stipulation of Settlement."
Michael Ashley, a corrections officer at Upstate Correctional Facility, says he was on a "pre-approved vacation aboard a cruise ship" when the strike started. When he returned to work ,he was "taken out of work by his medical provider for a shoulder injury and ruptured discs and placed on workers' compensation leave. He was deemed resigned effected March 10, 2025."
Nathan Locke was with the department for almost 15 years. He say he was also deemed resigned, effective March 10, 2025.
Allison Richir was a corrections officer at Lakeview Shock Correctional Facility. On February 17, the day the strike started, she says she "left that afternoon on pre-approved family sick leave..."
But Richir says she remained on family sick leave for the remainder of the strike. "An Administrative Law Judge of the New York State Department of Labor has since found, after a hearing at which DOCCS appeared and presented evidence, that "[t]he claimant did not participate in the strike." She was offered a Stipulation of Settlement several times and declined it each time."
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"This case is about what the State of New York did to roughly two thousand of its own correction officers after they warned it, for years, that its prisons were failing, and about what the State has said about them since," the lawsuit explains.
According to the complaint, filed in downtown Buffalo on Monday, "The State's own workplace-safety agency had cited DOCCS in 2022 for failing to protect its staff from drug exposures, and would later cite DOCCS for a willful violation arising from the exposures at Upstate Correctional Facility in January 2025. The warnings were received. They were not acted upon."
Ashley, according to the complaint, "urged the Governor to "[s]it down with us as a human, open your heart, open your mind, let's discuss these policies," and observed that if "DOCCS is saying they're trying to aggressively recruit people," then "[y]ou have 2,000 people you can aggressively recruit."
The lawsuit explains, "The Governor's office answered the same day: "Commissioner Martuscello has taken steps to address safety concerns and quality of life issues raised by DOCCS staff, and we will continue supporting those ongoing efforts. However, those who willingly broke the law, violated a court order, and failed to return to work after multiple good faith offers from DOCCS will never work for New York State again."
Governor Hochul was asked about the corrections officer strike, during a gubernatorial debate last month. According to the complaint, the Governor said:
- "They walked out the door and shut it. What do you want me to do?"
- "You violated the law. Shame on you."
- "That very day that they walked out, there were supposed to be indictments on a number of them for the murder of an incarcerated individual."
Lawyers write, "She said she did not regret the terminations, and that if thousands of officers walked off the job again she would "sure as hell fire them."
The lawsuit calls for "compensatory damages against the Individual Defendants in their individual capacities, jointly and severally, in an amount to be determined at trial, including lost wages inclusive of the overtime Class members would have earned, lost health, dental, and vision benefits and the out-of-pocket expenses incurred in their absence, lost pension service credit and retirement benefits..."
We have reached out to the Governor's office for a response. We are waiting to hear back.
