N.Y. sheriff: Gov. Hochul’s ‘overreach’ prevents hiring of fired striking corrections officers

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s hiring ban extends to local governments by temporarily suspending laws that would allow agencies to hire the COs; it also strips COs of their peace officer status

March 19, 2025 04:10 PM

By Robert Harding
The Citizen, Auburn, N.Y.

CAYUGA COUNTY, N.Y. — Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul for an executive order that prevents local law enforcement agencies from hiring fired state correction officers.

More than 2,000 correction officers were fired after a three-week strike. After the walkout ended, Hochul issued an executive order that prohibits state agencies from hiring the fired officers.

The ban extends to local governments by temporarily suspending local laws that would allow agencies, such as the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, to hire the officers. Hochul’s order also strips the fired COs of their peace officer status.

Schenck responded to the executive order in a Facebook post. Hochul’s action is “clearly an overreach by our state government,” he wrote.

“I have brought this to the attention of our local county legislative chair as well as our public safety chair and will be urging them to respond,” Schenck continued. “I applaud NY state counties and sheriffs that are already working to address this.”

Hochul’s directive cuts off, at least temporarily, a potential pipeline for county jails to address staffing challenges. Like the state correctional system, local jails are also dealing with a shortage of correction officers.

During the correction officer strike, the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office posted that it was seeking lateral transfers to work as custody officers, or correction officers, in the jail. One of the requirements for applicants was they must be employed as a correction officer with another agency.

“The decision to hire any of these former officers to support our local jail operations should be a local decision, not one made by the governor under an ‘emergency’ declaration,” Schenck said.

The strike involved about 90% of the 13,500 correction officers and sergeants employed by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

When the strike ended, DOCCS reported that more than 10,000 officers returned to work. The 2,000 officers who were fired did not return to duty by the state-imposed deadline. An unknown number of officers resigned.

Trending