Originally published on The Daily Record on February 24, 2025

Currently, New York prison guards are on strike. Corrections officers at 25 of New York’s 42 prisons have not shown up for shifts. Governor Hochul has referred to the strike as “illegal and unlawful,” and indicated she is looking into legal recourse. 

Under the Taylor Law, public employees are specifically prohibited from engaging in a strike. A public employee is presumed to have engaged in a strike if he or she is absent from work without permission when a strike occurs. The Taylor Law also lays out specific penalties for public employees who do strike. Those penalties include removal from their position, disciplinary action, and payroll deductions for each day the individual was on strike. Striking is a civil violation under the Taylor Law, and the Taylor Law in turn outlines civil penalties. 

As to whether there could be criminal liability, there has been at least one circumstance where public employees who went on strike were criminally charged. In People v. Vizzini, New York City firefighters went on strike in violation of the Taylor Law. The president and two other members of the executive board of the Uniformed Firefighters Association were indicted for reckless endangerment arising from their role in calling for the strike. The court determined that the Taylor Law did not preclude criminal prosecution. As the court noted, if a nurse assigned to an intensive care unit abandoned a patient being sustained by life-supporting equipment to go on strike, and that patient died, the nurse’s conduct would constitute a crime. 

The Taylor Law specifically prohibits public employees, including prison guards, from going on strike and outlines the civil penalties they face if they do go on strike. But nothing in it prohibits prison guards from also facing criminal liability. So far, Governor Hochul has mobilized the National Guard to potentially replace striking prison guards as necessary. An injunction was also filed in state court seeking to stop the strike under the Taylor Law. A temporary restraining order was granted restraining the corrections officers from striking, meaning that corrections officers who continue to strike would be in violation of the court order. Whether there will be any further action, including civil or criminal penalties against those participating in the strike, remains to be seen.

Ryan Lefkowitz can be reached at rlefkowitz@adamsleclair.law.